Church Security Plan Checklist: Are Your Church Members Safe?

Key reasons you need a church security plan:​

• To guard your children, youth, adults, and seniors from harm.
• Reduce risks of violence, crime, and disruption during service.
• Planning helps you prevent many problems before they can happen.
• To lower member confusion and panic when something does go wrong.
• Lessen the legal and insurance risks of your church or organization.
• Shield your property, finances, and church’s reputation.

Risk Assessment

Before making a whole bunch of changes, you need to know your real risks. This step helps focus your limited time and budget on what matters most.

• Think about the things that could go wrong at your church realistically speaking.
• Consider location of your church, size, service times, and special events.
• Walk all around your campus looking for blind spots, dark parking areas, or unclear exits.
• Review incidents that happened in the past like suspicious behavior and physical conflicts.

Physical Church Security

These physical church security plan measures should support your ministry, not choke it. So, start with simple, visible steps. This kind of security creates layers that make it harder for harm to reach people. Many improvements are low-cost but high‑impact for safety.​

• Check church doors and their locks for sturdiness and test the alarm system.
• Lock doors not being used and clearly mark entrances to control access points.
• Improve the lighting in church hallways, parking lot, and outdoor walkways.
• Use security cameras at entry points, offices, and children and youth area.

Security Personnel

You and your staff can’t carry security alone. You need the right people in the right places.

• Form a church security team, maybe call it “safe team”, with clear duties during services and events.
• Recruit members from your congregation who have police, military, security, or medical experience.
• Train your security team to watch, communicate, and respond so they know “who does what” in an emergency.
• Appoint a security or safety leader as your single point of contact for ease of management.

Posted Policies and Procedures

Posting these, where they’re easy to find, will turn your good intentions into clear action. In view of this, write step-by-step, acts people can easily understand and follow. Postings often include:

• Child and youth security (screening, two-adult rule, secure check-in & check-out).
• Handling money (counting offering, deposits, safe use, limits to access).
• Building access (keys, codes, who can be in the building and when).
• Incident reporting (how to document threats, unusual behavior, and violence).
• Medical response (what to do in a medical emergency).

Communication Protocol

This is how you alert everyone in the event of an emergency. What’s more, good communication prevents panic. Also, people often don’t rise up in a crisis but fall back on their training. You can structure communication in these layers:​

• Internal team tools: Radios, headsets, or secure mobile apps for your safety team.
• Codes or phrases: Simple words like “Code Blue” for medical to avoid public panic.
• Congregation alerts: Text messages or app notifications for emergencies and instructions.
• Public announcements: Short and calm notifications from church leaders when needed.
• Spokes person: Decide who has permission to send alerts and make public announcements.

Emergency Response Plans

How you respond to an emergency is the core of an effective security plan. They answer the question “What do we do when ‘this…’ happens?” Common plans include:

• A violent threat including an armed intruder.
• Aggressive or even suspicious conduct, disturbance, or domestic dispute.
• A medical incident like an injury, allergic reaction, or heart attack.
• Smoke, fire, or gas leak. (For more info see our article: Church Fire Safety Checklist: Is Your Church Fire Safe?)

For each one of these emergencies, write down:

• Who is in charge and who backs them up.
• How you alert the congregation or members.
• A safe meeting place outside the church where people go.
• How and who contacts 911.
• Who communicates with families.

Training and drills

Practice these plans at least once a year so everyone becomes familiar with them. As a result, they will know what to do quickly and calmly.

Step 1: Create a planning team

This team does the work but church leadership is ultimately accountable.

• Begin with at least one church leader, someone from staff, and trusted volunteers.
• Ask those to join with experience in law enforcement, military, or medicine.
• Fashion a timeline with scheduled meetings so the work doesn’t get put aside.

Step 2: Gathering information

You’re not alone as many professionals are glad to help churches with their safety.

• Review your past incidents, existing policies, and requirements for insurance.
• Talk with an insurance agency who specializes in churches about your risks and coverage.
• Ask your local police, fire, and EMS to walk around your property and for their input.

Step 3: Write out your church security plan

Your first rough draft should be simple and focused. So, go for clarity and not perfection. A working draft out does a complex unwritten plan. Things to include:

• A statement of purpose which ties safety to your church mission and values.
• Define roles like who will lead in a crisis, who guides the children and youth, etc.
• Basic actions for emergencies most likely to happen at your church. Include:​
  • Person causing disruption: How to de-escalate, when to ask them to leave, when to call police.
  • Active attacker or violent threat: When to lock doors and when to direct people to safety.
  • Medical situation: Who calls 911, who leads EMS to the person, and who keeps the crowd back.

Step 4: Training and reminders

A good plan is effective when people understand it. Use examples and stories to show that security and safety is an act of love and not fear.

• Train your safety team, children’s workers, and volunteers on their roles and communication.
• Give your congregation basic instructions on how to report concerns, exits, and meeting points.
• Use small reminders several times a year so people are aware but don’t feel alarmed or scared.

Step 5: Practicing and reviewing church security plan

A written plan only works if people know it by practicing it. Regular training turns your volunteers and staff into a confident, prepared team.​ This simple habit helps you keep your plan alive and improving over time.​

• Schedule drills for events like a lockdown and/or meeting area outside the church.
• After an incident, or close call, review what went well and what needs fixing.
• Update your plan yearly and take changes to church leadership for review and approval.

Strong child and youth safety practices often include:

• Screening: written applications, reference checks, and background checks for anyone serving with minors.
• Supervision: two approved adults present with children at all times, with windows in the doors when possible.
• Check-in/check-out: numbered tags or a digital system so only approved adults pick up children.
• Spaces: locked or monitored hallways, clear sight lines, and limited access to children’s areas.

Practical training rhythm:​

• Monthly: Short meetings to review one safety topic before or after service.
• Quarterly: Walk-through drills for safety team, staff, children’s workers, and volunteers.
• Bi-yearly: Larger training with scenarios like disruptive visitors and medical responses.
• Annually: Review of risks (present and new), current policies, and insurance.