Church Security Forum

Hello,

It's been awhile for me to be around here, but I have been finally getting a team off the ground. We are mainly securing the perimeter around the campus during services and checking doors and staying in the lobby watching for supicious behavior, but last Sunday we ran into something that seems hard to “take on”.

The story starts several weeks ago when a rather large older man stormed out of the sanctuary, mad about something in the church, and demanded that he talk with the pastor! When we informed him that he needed to settle down first, he wrote a note and asked us to give it to him. The note simply asked the Pastor to call him at a certain number. After the service I gave our pastor the note and told him the entire story. He exclaimed that he would not be calling him, because he does not like to reward “bad” behavior. I guess he thougth the man was acting like a spoiled child?

Our church has “door attendents” who open the double sets of front doors for the people, then thru the second set of double doors, we have “greeters” who greet the people with a smile and a bulletin. Well, our pastor wants to greet and touch every person, so against our wishes, he is a greeter every Sunday and Wednesday night. On that Wednesday, after praise and wroships started and the lobby started thining out, the same man came back to the church and approached the pastor very upset about the inncident from the previous Sunday and the fact that the pastor didn't call him. There was a little confrentation before the man stompped off again out the door. At that point, church had started, and our 2 team members “on duty” had gone into their routines. So, we were not there to whitness or protect the pastor in the case of an assult. Some of our team members were disturbed at this point and want to start to shadow the pastor, but our pastor has over and over resisted any type of this security and doesn't want the “rock star” treatment. Ok, I get that, but what is an effective way to maybe prevent someone from getting the pastor practically alone like that again? Nothing happened this time, but what about the next time? Our team is limited right now, and I would of normaly been there, but I volunteer as a pre-school teacher every other Wednesday night, and of course this happened on one of those nights. As much as we talk about these type of situations, they always come when we are not ready or around. Any suggestions???????/

Hey there,

I'm new to the forum however not new to security within church. I oversee the security of a well known Church in Australia.

In looking at your post, what stood out to me is that you have the following:

1. A Pastor whom is a good shephard that wants to connect with his congregation. His thinking is “Why would you try to “protect” me from the very people God has called me to?”. He also doesn't want this specific case to change the vision and heart of the Church. Church security goes against the grain of “the Church is called to reach out to those that are hurting and needy”

2. A team that are called and passionate to protect the Sanctuary and God's children from any form of threat.

Communication for both parties is key here, especially since you mentioned that security is relatively new for your Church. It's really important for a security team to get the vision of their pastor. If you can gage what's important to him, you can build a team that supports rather than tugs at where the pastor is heading.

It is as equally important for the pastor to have the why factor of what you are trying to set. If your mindset is on the overall safety and security of the pastor and your congregation then you should be able to find a median. Don't allow your strategy to be reaction based - incidents are never the same.

Hope this helps. Oxox

Hello My name is Richard Perez i am A Pastor and owner of Extreme Security Professionals a Church Security consulting company that teaches Worship Centers how to protect their facillities as well as teaching church security directors how to develop Dignitary/Pastoral Protection team. I congragulate you on being obedient to what God has placed in your heart in protecting the ministry and your Pastor, continue doing what God has placed in your heart and you will see that your Pastor and elders will turn around. One of the things that we do with Pastors that feel that they do not want the attention of having personal protection with them in church is to develop a palin clothes detail of team members, if properly trained they can continue to protect the Pastor and at the same time be undercover without visitors really knowing who they are. The Proper training is key to this type of protection work. I guarantee your Pastor will feel a little more comfortable. PS: Great Forum C.S.A.