Suburban, Urban, Rural Churches... We Are All Vulnerable
News

“Find a champion within the church to be trained as a disaster coordinator--this helps in developing a disaster response policy, and keeping that in front of church leadership. Emphasize small group ministries so that people are connected and ready to help one another after a disaster – clean up, housing, relational support. Make sure data is backed up off-site. Have a contingency plan for where you would meet for worship and other ministries.” – Pastor Aaron Brown, St. Paul’s UMC, Joplin Tornado
“Plan in advance for: How do you account for members and who was affected? How will you deal with damage to your building? How can you connect volunteers with needs?” – Mark Statler, Southwest District Superintendent
Fire Facts
- In 2012-2013 over a dozen fires damaged or destroyed United Methodist Churches ($10,000 to $3.3 million in damages)
- Over 1300 church fires reported yearly
- Arson is leading cause of church fires (25%)
- Smoke alarms not present in 65% of fires
Deadly Force Intruder Facts
- 2013: 85 Incidents of deadly force on church property
- 2012: 35 Incidents of deadly force on church property
- Occurrence in 37 different states (74%)
- 1999-2013
- 723 incidents with 458 victim and aggressor deaths
- 16.5% domestic issues
- 14.3 % personal conflict
- 23.4% robbery
- 58.9% used a gun - 17.4% used a knife
- 40.5% occurred during a church event
Child Abuse Facts
- 1 of every 4 Americans has been a victim of child abuse
- Vast majority of molesters are male
- Prior to being caught, the molester has attacked an average of 13 children
- Molesters are often married
- Victims may be male or female
- Christianity Today: “70% of churches do nothing to screen volunteer youth workers”
Church Fraud Facts
- Church financial fraud increases at 6% per year
- Expected to reach $60 billion by 2025
- 80% of all cases go unreported
- Usually the offender is one of the most trusted in the church
Tornado Facts
- Missouri ranks # 8 in tornadoes relative to all states
- Missouri ranks # 12 in risk of tornado death
- June has the highest rate of tornadoes
- Lead time for tornado warning averages 13 minutes
So What Can We Really Do...Today?
Please take the following ‘My Safe Church’ evaluation. Check the boxes your church has in place:- Emergency plan
- Evacuation plan
- Communication and electronic records back up plan
- Smoke alarms/sprinkler system
- Limited people have building keys
- Security/safety team
- Medical team
- Adequate insurance? Volunteers, vehicles, contents, replacement cost
- More than one person counting money and reconciling accounts
- Safe Sanctuaries policy
- Staff, key volunteers have a criminal background check
- Someone is clearly responsible for our safety planning
- Review other church policies for good ideas
- Enforce, train, practice, evaluate, revise all of the above