You Can’t Take Your Church’s Security Lightly
Several churches and ministries have suffered the horror of a mass shooting in the last several years. The shooting at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church in 2015 shocked the nation, as did those last year at The Covenant School of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, and this year at Lakewood Church in Houston. As I have written elsewhere, the body of Christ must persist in prayer in these moments and take seriously the call to humbly seek solutions to such violence. We must reject our inclination to retrench behind the superficial points parroted in partisan politics, instead asking what we as the Church of Jesus Christ can and should do to protect those who bear his image.
In these past few years, churches have asked how they can and should protect their people. These questions are not theoretical to me, because I’ve had a security incident at a church that got dangerous. I know I’m not the only one. The Voice of America Special Report on shootings at houses of worship has shown the increasing frequency of these events in our generation.
As believers faithfully gather each Sunday despite these dangers, the questions and needs around security continually confront ministry leaders. In light of these tragedies, churches across the country have begun thinking and praying through security, painfully aware that on any given Sunday they could face this situation.
When I’ve consulted with churches, I’ve almost always involved someone in the field for issues of church security. Such security professionals both in and out of the church have helped us think through questions of security while our churches still openly welcome our communities. So as pastors, elder teams, and ministry leaders continue the hard and complex process of refining their security processes, I want to offer a mix of pastoral and practical advice for us to consider.
1. We can no longer be naïve about church security
The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas was only around a hundred members in a town of a thousand when it was attacked in 2017. This point reminds us that a church’s size does not immunize it from potential attack. While we must resist the urge to irrational fear, we must also answer the question of security seriously and proactively.
Church and ministry security leaders have consistently pointed out to me that churches cannot afford to be naïve about the potential security risks. A recent study by the Family Research Council has tracked nearly 1,000 “acts of hostility against churches in the United States” since 2018. Several churches, such as New Life Church in Colorado Springs and Calvary Chapel Melbourne, have embraced armed security as a preventative measure. Concerned with the threat of violence in or around the church, these teams develop protocol and training for everything from monitoring exits to administering communion.
When I’ve been asked to comment on church shootings and security, I’ve noted how churches can present easy targets for those hoping to inflict harm. Think about the normal church service in our culture: people gather into a group, facing forward and away from the exits, as they focus on worshiping and serving their Savior rather than their own safety.
Obviously, a larger church might have more resources for security staff. One church I served had a full-time director of security. Smaller churches might have more of a challenge, but they can and must find ways to secure their locations and congregations. Many churches supply security with volunteers with law enforcement training, and others recruit and train volunteers with little to no experience or training in law enforcement. To the best of your ability, your church can and should recruit and train a security team that can help secure and protect your people.
2. We can develop strong relationships with law enforcement in the community
In our conversations, church security officials and Christians with law enforcement experience have emphasized a recurring theme about church security: churches and leaders must develop their relationship with the local police department and its officers. A strong working relationship between churches and law enforcement is critical for at least three reasons.
First, a strong relationship with law enforcement allows church leaders the freedom to call the police for advice and insight on problems that come up. Police can provide both physical support and practical wisdom on proper ways for churches to protect their people. For example, law enforcement can help if someone causes a disturbance and will not settle down or if someone threatens violence against the church. Beyond these immediate situations, police can train on issues such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and online bullying, as churches discern the correct pathway forward.
Second, a strong relationship with law enforcement allows the police to become familiar with the church’s building in case of emergency. For example, a professional once explained to me that his church opened its building for the police to host drills and other events for just this reason. The events helped familiarize officers with the doors and flow of the facility.
Third, developing a relationship with the police in your community provides a window to witness and minister. While attacks against churches are comparatively rare, police regularly face harrowing situations where the church can be active in its support. In this way, the church can cultivate a relationship of mutual service to those who also serve the community.
3. We can prioritize visible deterrence
Church security experts consistently highlight the proactive effect of the visible presence of professional security. Seeing security encourages members and guests and discourages possible attackers. One professional called this a strategy of “visible deterrence.” Attackers often look for “soft” or easy targets, while even the potential for pushback can deter and push them away. Rather than having security hidden or blended into the people, an open presence amongst the people can both reassure and protect.
Even one uniformed volunteer on the lookout can divert and prevent threats before they begin. Bigger churches may extend this emphasis and establish a clear security presence among the arriving congregants with security vehicles and/or officers in the parking lot.
We must balance this good advice with the concern (which I understand) that “visible deterrence” could actually deter honest people from church. We must navigate this real tension thoughtfully, carefully, and prayerfully as we secure and welcome all kinds of people within our churches. For example, training for security volunteers must effectively cultivate both inviting hearts and watchful eyes and ears. To paraphrase Jesus’s words, church security officers must be as welcoming as doves and as protective as serpents (Mt. 10:16).
4. We can provide ongoing training for all church and ministry staff
Churches deploy members with accounting backgrounds to aid in the financial management of the church and those with musical abilities on the worship team. So, too, churches should access the expertise of members with experience in law enforcement, security, or violence prevention. In our discussions, security professionals have highlighted three groups specifically: police, military, and private security firms.
Such individuals represent thousands of hours of training and experience. They have put in the time to understand how to identify and react to threats. This experience equips them to help train others in your church in the fundamentals of security.
Security professionals have repeated and emphasized this point in our conversations: Churches who take security seriously should be meeting regularly to review processes and work through scenarios. Some experts recommend quarterly meetings and others monthly ones, but in any case, churches should be meeting regularly, incorporating ushers and pastoral staff into this training. Such leaders often serve as the first people to identify a threat. And, again, such meetings can provide great opportunities to reach out to police departments for leadership and assistance in this area.
5. We must trust that security is under the providence of God
After a mass shooting at a church has happened, some pastors have boasted that their church would have done better. That’s foolish. If you are not familiar with firearms, you don’t understand how surprise, tactics, body armor, and semi-automatic weapons work. Security does help, but at the church in Sutherland Springs, for example, over 20 people were dead before a “good guy with a gun killed a bad guy with a gun.”
So, the ‘we’d stop them here’ bravado devalues the victims and makes the boaster look ignorant.
No security plan is foolproof.
And, at the end of the day, we have to trust the Lord as we live in faith, not fear.
So, even as I have outlined some practical measures churches can explore to help strengthen their security processes, I want to end by reminding us that we have to resist the urge to act out of fear. We live in a world groaning and broken under the weight of sin, where evil knows where to find and harm the good. Yet despite this, Scripture consistently commands us, “Do not be afraid,” as we remember that God is sovereign, all-powerful, and loves us (Is. 41:10).
Paul reminds us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7). He exhorts us to come to God rather than to act in anxiety, recognizing that God gives to us supernatural peace to combat the fears of this world in addition to the wisdom to navigate life (Phil. 4:6-7). Near the end of the gospel of John, Jesus leaves the disciples with these comforting words:
“Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
We must be wise and decisive, but in all our action we must reject fear. Our fear says that we control all things where God’s Word reminds us that He is sovereign. So, as we begin to think through how to keep our people safe, we should begin with the reminder that our hope is secure in God (Heb. 13:6).
©2024 Ed Stetzer. Used with permission.
About The Author

Ed Stetzer
Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is the Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. Stetzer has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; and has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. Stetzer serves his local church, Mariners Church, as Scholar in Residence & Teaching Pastor.