Let’s have an open and honest conversation about something close to my heart: church safety. Every year that passes, church attendance drops. Our communities no longer see us the way they used to: as sanctuaries. I’m all about adopting a proactive mindset that aligns an approach to fixing that with the teachings of Scripture. That’s why I developed the training guide “Reclaiming Sanctuary: Enhancing Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Safety in Our Churches”.
By making small adjustments, we can create a safer and more welcoming environment. I bring a fresh female perspective to the table, backed up by my experiences working on a church staff, in a domestic violence court, at a Christian non-profit, and currently, as a private investigator and part of my church’s security team. I’ve got the experience to help you enhance physical, emotional, and spiritual safety at your church.
While we may excel at providing curriculum and instruction, we sometimes struggle to proactively identify and address safety concerns. When you grab a copy of this guide and go through each module, you’ll get three key takeaways:
- you will be equipped to articulate the safety challenges that you’re finding to your leadership
- you will be able to develop a practical plan for achievable improvements that are tailored specifically for your church, and
- You will have access to templates that you can use to create policies that will transform your church into a sanctuary for all
A Shepherd’s Perspective
To adequately address the physical, emotional, and spiritual safety of our flock, let’s adopt the mindset of a shepherd. This training guide will help you begin immediately taking the steps needed to begin Reclaiming Sanctuary for your flock, and for the community God is using you to reach. Restoring safety and trust can be a complex and ongoing process that requires deliberate actions and sustained effort. Let’s look at the three main responsibilities of shepherds.
- It’s their job to provide food and water, watch for signs of illness or injury, administering medicine when needed, and ensuring that the sheep have access to shelter.
- They also have to protect their flock from wolves, coyotes, and other relentless predators.
- When a member of the flock wanders away, the shepherd is responsible for finding them and gathering them back into the community of sheep.
What about your flock? I’ll bet you are providing The Bread of Life and The Living Water, but are you proactively watching over your sheep? Do you have anyone watching out for problems that might arise? Is anyone responsible for ensuring that appropriate therapeutic help and shields are available for emotional and spiritual safety needs, not just physical ones? Have you trained a team to look for and block predators? Believe me, you do have predators circling your flock.
Just like shedding a few pounds involves small, manageable steps, boosting church safety starts with small improvements. One simple yet impactful change is to maintain an open group that allows individuals who may be shy or overlooked to easily join without feeling excluded. Similarly, with volunteers, we should always have opportunities available, ensuring that no one is turned away without a valid reason.
Reclaiming Sanctuary
Regaining trust is a paramount goal. A church should be more than just a building; it should be a refuge where people feel safe, welcomed, and supported. A true sanctuary isn’t just a building; it’s the community within. By embracing a proactive approach to safety, we not only protect our flock but also create an environment where the gospel can be effectively shared with a world that desperately needs hope.
My training resource is designed to be flexible, accommodating churches at any stage of their journey. Recognizing the diverse availability of time, resources, and flexibility in different churches, the training allows for customization to the unique needs of each congregation. Throughout the process, I provide guidance and support to ensure that every church can reclaim the status of being a true sanctuary.
Let’s anticipate possible objections and look at ways to overcome them:
- We’ve always done it this way.
Yes, and it’s seemed to work fine. But the world is changing, so we need to anticipate and guard against new threats to the physical, emotional, and spiritual safety of those God has entrusted to our care.
- We don’t have that problem here.
It may seem that way, but if one in four women has experienced domestic abuse, it has happened or is happening to someone here. If, according to notinourchurch.com., one in eight Protestant senior pastors say a church staff member has sexually harassed a member of their congregation, then we are vulnerable to that happening here.
- It is not the job of the church to deal with these types of issues.
At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV) Jesus came not only to preach, but to help protect and restore anyone who has been victimized.
Whether you choose to dive into the training resource, engage with the online video instruction, or opt for personalized 1-on-1 coaching, the goal remains the same—to empower your church to be a true sanctuary. The journey involves introspection, acknowledgment of blind spots, and a commitment to putting the needs of the flock first.
Feeling unsure about taking the first step? That’s perfectly okay. This training is crafted to be effective at any stage of your journey. Immediate positive changes are within your grasp, and, most importantly, you’ll have the flexibility to customize solutions to your church’s unique needs.
Part of making our churches true sanctuaries is to recognize that each one of us needs to have David’s attitude from this passage:
1 Samuel 17:32-37 TLB
“Don’t worry about a thing,” David told him. “I’ll take care of this Philistine!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “How can a kid like you fight with a man like him? You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!”
But David persisted. “When I am taking care of my father’s sheep,” he said, “and a lion or a bear comes and grabs a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If it turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this heathen Philistine too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who saved me from the claws and teeth of the lion and the bear
will save me from this Philistine!”
Saul finally consented, “All right, go ahead,” he said, “and may the Lord be with you!”
There were threats to the flocks that David tended, and there are threats to our flocks today. David says that when a predator comes after a lamb from his flock, he goes after it! He sees what needs to be done and he does it. He didn’t look at how intimidating Goliath was, any more than he worried about bears or lions. Each in its own way was a threat and David was willing to be responsible to take care of threats.
A true sanctuary isn’t just walls; it’s the community within. So, let’s take this journey together, be honest about where we’re at, and make the changes needed to transform our churches into sanctuaries for all. It might be a bit of a challenge, but the rewards—enhanced safety, trust, and community—are totally worth it.