Church security: A sign of the times

Southside Baptist Church in Warner Robins held what only a few years ago would have been seen as a strange subject for a seminar: security. Church security. However, security in and around churches is as important today as at any gathering of people — maybe more so.

The murders of nine people in Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last summer, while the most recent, is by far not the first. According to Drake’s National Church Shooting Database, between 1980 and 2005, there have been 139 shootings in churches, killing 185 people, including 36 children.

Why are churchgoers vulnerable? A sanctuary is a place where one would least expect trouble to occur. Churches, mosques and synagogues are generally places with open-door policies. But people enter with all sorts of emotional baggage — from the fights they had with their spouses or bouts of depression. They may be in the middle of a nasty divorce or custody battle. Many churches already have security personnel in place to handle trouble, and the seminar, attended by more than 100, is evidence that church leaders in Warner Robins are interested in the subject, too.

Also covered during the seminar were attacks from within churches. Places of worship have to be vigilant about what kinds of people are allowed to work, volunteer or lead youth services. Seminar leaders suggested that churches conduct professional background checks on anyone who works in any capacity with children. However, many churches in Warner Robins and in the rest of Middle Georgia already require background checks for all church employees.

One of the most important aspects stressed by seminar leaders was training — and one-time been-there-done-that training isn’t good enough. Skills training ranges from the security aspect to how to detect child abuse or neglect and have the courage to report it.

Yes, it is a sad state we are in, but it doesn’t help at all to bury our heads in the pulpit and pretend the world will go away just because we enter the sanctuary of our places of worship. Southside is to be congratulated for being proactive on the subject of security inside and outside of the church. No one can say they didn’t have the opportunity to possibly head off a damaging situation by being armed with the proper information.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Church security: A sign of the times."