In case you’re wondering, this is not a satirical post of mine, nor is it one I lifted from Lark News. This is from a story I read in this Sunday’s Des Moines Register. As you may guess, it discusses a few of the headaches that mega-churches face in the battle to protect the physical safety of their audiences. The story includes mention of security cameras, tickets needed to pick up children from the nursery and special training for volunteers so they can more accurately assess the likelihood that someone is there who shouldn’t be there. That came out wrong. It is so they can shadow those people who take too much interest in children, who they should not be in contact with.
“Churches reflect the society at large,” said Eric Spacek , senior risk manager for GuideOne Insurance of West Des Moines.
As I read this piece, I was grateful that these are not problems that my own church has to face. We are an average-sized church where you can get to know each other. Because of this, we truly can bear one another’s burdens and we can rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Being too small to have a light show may not draw in visitors, but the Lord is magnified as the primary reason anyone attends. If there is a visitor in our church, they are recognized and greeted. In a mega-church (2000+ in attendance) this just isn’t possible. If you cannot recognize a regular in the pew from a visitor, I don’t see how you can effectively minister to your flock.
“Church security is changing,” [Chris] Gunnare said. “The threat is not just from strangers, but also from split families in legal disputes. Nobody wants to make the paper for (a child abduction). It’s not good outreach.”
So what are we to do if the church becomes too large to effectively shepherd the flock? There is no overt Biblical mandate regarding the proper number of people in a church but there are verses that assume that the shepherd knows his sheep and calls them by name. While this is a phrase attributed to Christ, I believe it must be applicable in the local church as well. It is hard to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and suffer with those who suffer if you don’t even know their name. I believe, then, that each church should monitor the effectiveness it has in fulfilling the ministries it is called to perform. If it cannot do this effectively, it ought to begin a church plant near enough to attract a portion of the congregation to it and far enough to avoid a church split.
“That’s OK, because if I can make my property less attractive to bad guys, and he goes somewhere else, my security goals are accomplished.”
-Brad Janowski, church administrator
As long as the smaller churches are gobbled up by mega-churches, we will continue to take our cues from the business world in that bigger is inherently better. As long as numbers and influence among the local churches is targeted we will continue to resemble the culture around us. We need to chase after the revealed will of God, that we may grow in our knowledge and love of Him for what He has done and for who He is. Until that is our focus, we will find the same troubles in the churches that we find in the world around us.
As a happy member of a mega-church, one effective method of adminstering to the flock is to break down to much smaller bible study groups. While total church attendance across 3 campuses might approach 20,000 people, my bible study group is only 50-60 people. We call each other, pray for each other, hold each other accountable. I love attending a Christian City and all the benefits that come with scale. We trained 40,000 people to serve food for hurricane Katrina refugees, we’ll serve 12,000 poor people for Christmas for our “Angels of Light” campaign. We’ve purchased buses for Sheltering Arms, Salvation Army, Star of Hope and even other churches because collectively we have an ability to share on a larger scale.
[...] It’s a dangerous world out there. Keep it out there. [...]
Size has little to nothing to do with safety and security. I am Assoc. Pastor at a small to mid-size church in SC. We train in security issues extensively, run background reports on all volunteers working with minors and senior adults (state checks for volunteers, national checks for all paid staff), and hold mandatory reporter traing for child abuse. We employ a security tag system for child pick-up; even as Assoc. Pastor, if I don’t have the tag, I can’t collect my kids on Sunday afternoon. Also, no one can serve with minors who hasn’t been a member for at least six months. Most (not all) of these policies were set because our insurance company (GuideOne, coincidentally) requires them.
Is Your Church a Safe Church?
The DesMoines Register covered church security this weekend, a topic that usually doesn’t get a lot of attention. Some of those church safety precautions include: Training and screening church leaders and volunteers. Issuing ID cards for parents that …
I go to a relatively small church as well, but security is/should be a concern for all. I don’t know why you assume since a church is large that it can’t effectively “shepherd the flock.” There is much more to “shepherding the flock” than the Sunday morning worship service, and I would dare say that the best “shepherding of the flock” occurs, whether small or large, outside the Sunday morning worship atmosphere in any case. I’m not writing off a church simply because of its size…either small or large.
There is too big and there is too small. I believe the too small is outlined as less than “two or three” if I’m not mistaken. What’s the sweet spot for the ratio of elders to members? And how many elders should one church have before it becomes ridiculous? If your church support is found primarily in small groups, couldn’t there be biblical support for calling Sunday a meeting of churches? I believe you’d have to look at the role of the church from God’s eyes, not man, to answer such questions.
I am a security specialist and feel strongly that the world’s tolerance is changing concerning Christianity. The warning signs are present and it is up to Church leadership to take the initiative to secure the Gods people, property and anointing. Understanding the fine line between being a welcoming place that accommodates the seeking but still secures Gods people is paramount in every church’s plan for success.
While churches pose some of the largest challenges to developing a security program based on the nature of their role in the community, it is more often their unwillingness to acknowledge the existence of a problem that results in their lack of preparedness. Next in line to that is their tendency to rely on congregants with security experience rather than seeking someone with a broader skill base and a willingness to craft a program that suits the culture of that specific congregation.