In today's environment the church faces many challenges to it's existence. Churches have faced scandals from sexual abuse to loss of creditability, embezzlement and thefts. Knowing how many of these issues can happen can help to understand what can be done to prevent them. In Part One, we are going to focus on how the offering can be placed at risk, both from outside forces as well as internal risks. Since the offering is the tithing of God's people back to God, most of the church family does not understand that there even is a risk. What can place the offering at risk.

One of the concerns that many churches have when they look at establishing a Safety or Security Team is what are they legally permitted to do? Putting aside the well known separation of church and state limitations that exist, we all know that churches are required to follow both state and federal guidelines on many issues such as fire codes, employment regulations, food preparation standards, etc. When we look at the legal requirements, trying to understand what regulations apply to a church security team can be a very taxing experience. Adding to the situation is the fact that the laws and regulations in two neighboring states can be vastly different. Some states have minimal regulations while others are vary extensive. In some states a church team must be a “Safety Team” not a “Security Team”. Finally, being “paid” verses “volunteer” can also determine what regulation you operate under. To help understand the process that your church will need to embark on, I reviewed the regulations for private security for Ohio. The journey to try to understand the regulations for our state lead me to contact the Ohio Department of Public Safety as detailed below.

This is an older news report that I recently read and found that it had some very interesting items in it. The mentality of why the robber chose a church to invade is very enlightening. This provides an insight into the mind of a mentally disturbed criminal. What seems to be an ordinary person can go over the edge when they let things get out of hand.