ChurchSafety.com’s Top 10 Training Resources

ChurchSafety.com provides expert guidance and risk management information on a broad range of safety topics. We’ve compiled the Top 10 most-downloaded resources from ChurchSafety.com during the past year. Find out what other church leaders have read and used to train staff and volunteers and to develop a safe environment for ministry:

10. Confronting Gun Violence at Church

While the number of incidents involving guns at churches remains small, information and preparation are still vital. Begin by assessing the current security of your church. This download gives helpful advice on how to plan for the unexpected, whether or not your church should hire a security guard, and how to deal with the media in the aftermath of violence.

9. Screening Underage Workers

Children are often the most vulnerable members of our congregations, and their presence also presents some of the most serious liability risks. Most churches use minors to assist in various children's or youth programs. Screening these workers will help prevent youth-peer sexual harassment. Institutions can be found guilty of negligence in these cases for not providing security against such abuse. Learn practical steps to properly screen underage workers and access helpful templates for references and interviews.

8. Creating a Safety Team

When crisis arises, are you prepared? Don’t be taken by surprise next time. Learn to respond appropriately to situations ranging from common medical emergencies to crisis involving gunfire. Every church can benefit from forming a safety team that is trained to respond appropriately to various emergencies. This download will discuss the importance of having a team that can handle situations requiring security intervention, medical response, or evacuation.

7. Your Guide to Employee Handbooks

Thousands of dollars in discrimination suits are drawn from employers each year by disgruntled employees. Unfortunately, churches are not immune from these cases. Creating an employee handbook to officially communicate expectations can prevent misunderstandings and help keep both parties in good standing with one another. If updated regularly, an employee handbook can also offer valuable legal protection against civil court claims made by dissatisfied staff members. This download gives you ideas, templates, and even inspiration to draft your own handbook.

6. Best Practices for Receiving Charitable Contributions

This download is designed to provide practical help and clear understanding on some of the issues surrounding charitable contributions. Church leaders need to know the principles of legal giving and receiving to safeguard the coffers, as well as the church's reputation.

5. Hosting Large Events at Your Church

Has God blessed your ministry with the vision and ministry space to practice hospitality and put on large events? Large events are effective and memorable ways to extend your ministry. It is important to realize, though, that the more people you bring together in one place, the higher the probability of something unexpected occurring. You may encounter unwelcome visitors or unforeseen emergency situations that can take you by surprise and leave even the best of planners scrambling to address the needs of the moment. But with a little risk management planning now, you can feel confident that whatever situation arises, you’ll have the staff and contingency plans to address it.

4. Managing Church Facility Use

Like our own homes, the church is a place where we extend hospitality to family members and to guests. Churches need to develop policies and procedures that make their facilities available for additional use, and yet keep assets protected. This download will help you apply best practices to facilities management so that you can equip your church to host members and strangers in your facilities.

3. Understanding Wage and Hour Laws

Confused about wage laws? Wondering if your church needs to pay employees for overtime? Many churches have questions about the laws governing minimum wage and overtime pay, especially when it comes to paying employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). While the FLSA applies only to businesses and individuals who engage in interstate commerce, this standard is so broad that few church employees are exempt from it. This download will equip you with key knowledge of the FLSA and give you the tools to compute wages and keep legitimate records.

2. Dealing with Dangerous People

It only takes one. Disturbed or dangerous people can commandeer a service or ministry event with no warning. Planning for how to handle disruptive behavior that may or may not be dangerous can be a service to your congregation. Security teams, specialized procedures, surveillance cameras, limited office access, emergency buttons, and thorough screening procedures help empower and enable churches to keep staff and congregants safe. This download is designed to help you think through safety measures your church can take to ward off dangerous individuals from entering your church, as well as practical ways to respond to disruptive people in kindness.

1. Protecting Your Church from Crime and Violence

What happens when crime and violence breach the church doors? As you seek to minister to the desperate and hurting, are there ways to protect your congregation from those with sinister motives? The church should be a place of peace and a safe haven for worshiping and experiencing God's love and grace away from the conflicts of the world. This downloadable resource is designed to help you assess the security of your church and take proactive steps to prevent a crime or tragedy from occurring within your ministry.

Visit ChurchSafety.com for a free, 14-day trial membership. An annual membership includes access to hundreds of articles, training downloads, and other tools.

The Your Church Blog's Top 10 Posts from Its First Year

I love milestones. And I'm a sucker for top 10 lists (thank you very much, David Letterman). Since today is August 26, it means the TheYourChurchBlog.com turns 1. Naturally, I went back and looked at our 10 most popular posts for the first year.

But before I do, a few observations about our past year:

1. Subject popularity appears diverse: 3 of the Top 10 posts fall under the Law Category, with 2 each under Finance and Safety, and 1 each under Staff and Office (the other post was a general one and didn't fall under one specific category);

2. Our highest traffic day came on February 23, on the heels of our post "Oregon Case Provides a Powerful Reminder to Churches," which reviews the implications of an appeals court's ruling that allowed a pastor's victory in a defamation lawsuit against his former church to stand.

3. The post garnering the most comments was "Where You Work Best," which discusses the pros and cons of worshipping at the church where you also work.

Without further delay, here are TheYourChurchBlog.com's Top 10 posts during its first year:

10. Legally Host a Super Bowl Party: If your church is hosting a Super Bowl party this year, you will need to abide by three simple guidelines to avoid violating copyright law ... read more

9. The Top 7 Resources to Combat Church Embezzlement: Earlier this month, we looked at two recent cases of church embezzlement, and the "zero tolerance" stance judges are starting to take against these crimes. Unfortunately, yet another big headline has since emerged ... read more

8. 10 Questions to Ask About Your Church's Communication: As you approach 2010, consider these 10 questions to discuss your church’s communication efforts ... read more

7. What Will the New Health Care Bill Mean for Churches?: Now that President Obama has signed the health care reform bill into law, many churches are wondering what the impact will be on staffing costs. ... read more

6. Resolving Conflict in the Church: The scenario that got both Sally and Jim both terminated from their company could have run like this ... read more

5. California Church Reeling From Shooter Incident: On Sunday morning, a gunman walked into New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ in Richmond, California. Flanked by two hooded companions, the three men scanned the pews, possibly searching for specific targets. Church members attempted to approach the men to ask them to remove their hoods, but before they reached them, one man began firing into the pews ... read more

4. Your Church’s Top 10 Articles from 2009: Last week, we wrote about the Top 10 most-read posts on TheYourChurchBlog.com during 2009. This week, we're taking a look at the Top 10 most-read articles from YourChurch.net, the website for Your Church magazine. ... read more

3. Dealing with Sex Offenders Who Attend Your Church: There is a female, registered sex offender who wants to attend our Sunday services. We want her to attend, but what guidelines should we have in place to safeguard our children? ... read more

2. Oregon Case Provides a Powerful Reminder to Churches Last week, an Oregon appeals court issued an important ruling involving a pastor’s efforts to sue his denomination and two denominational officials for defamation. Church leaders should take note because appellate decisions become reference points for future cases heard around the country. ... read more

1. Top 5 Reasons Churches Wind Up in Court: For many years, I've closely reviewed litigation involving churches to identify patterns that pastors and leaders can use to assess their own risks and potential vulnerabilities. In 2008, the following five types of cases brought churches to court more than any others ... read more

People You Don't Want in Your Ministry

Get ready to tremble with me.

Leadership from both organizations described how he passed extensive criminal background checks. One group performs them periodically and requires annual youth protection training. The suspect worked there for seven years. A senior leader remarked that, unfortunately, no manual exists for them to see exactly what a pedophile looks like.

By now, you likely see the connection between this news story and your ministry. You perform criminal background checks (right?), you conduct child protection training (right?), and the potential still exists for the wrong people to make it into your ministry.

One reason is that background checks only reveal people caught by authorities; they don't reveal intentions or undiscovered activities. An estimate shows the number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. stands at 232 per 100,000. Experts tell us many more exist but have not yet encountered the legal system. All this to point out that the number of people you should worry about might be much higher than you imagine.

But you serve in a church. Why would any of these people try to serve in your ministry? Simple answer: because of the kids. People with perversions toward children tend to look for ways to hang out with kids, build relationships, and earn trust. Similar to what children's ministries encourage workers to do, right? Not easy to read; not easy to write about, either. But it's true—your ministry might serve as an easy target for someone who wants to harm children.

Or not.

Depends on the quality and integrity of your systems and on your commitment to those systems, regardless of their popularity with potential volunteers—even the deacon who decided to help on Sundays. Or the Boy Scout leader. No, not a cheap shot; more of a wake-up call for all. Remember, there is no manual that shows what a pedophile looks like. So ministries must implement systems that limit access and opportunity.

What do these systems look like? Let's start with the absolute basics and then steer toward even more robust ideas.

To start, every children's and youth ministry should put in place a volunteer assimilation program that includes a criminal background check, reference checks, and personal interviews for everyone. The deacon, the mother of four, the school teacher, the college student who's attended church his whole life, and that older guy who tells jokes that everyone around the church loves. Even the husband of the children's ministry pastor. Both organizations that employed the suspect mentioned above stressed their background check process. For good reason. It will scare away the people with a legal history of child and/or sex crimes and encourage them to go elsewhere. Without a policy of checking all, an organization will appear asleep at the wheel if the wheels start to fall off in a catastrophe. And what we're looking at today is potentially catastrophic.

Next, your ministry orientation should include child and youth protection training. If you currently do not have such training, visit ReducingTheRisk.com to learn what's available. No need for you to create great materials, experts have done the hard work for you. When everyone in your ministry knows how to spot inappropriate behavior in co-workers, when everyone in your ministry shares commitment to ensuring a safe environment for children, when everyone in your ministry watches, then you've created a place where children thrive and a pedophile avoids. When you keep this information to yourself, when you remain quiet and avoid the topic, opportunities will exist everywhere you aren't. Child protection is a team effort.

Additionally, adopt and strictly enforce a two-adult rule. This means that you've taken the necessary steps to structure your ministry so an adult never has access to a child or group of children alone. Both organizations in the recent news story used the two-adult rule as solid footing to stand on amidst the allegations; guard that ground well. In doing so, you'll eliminate many potentially harmful situations for children and minimize the chance of wrongful allegations toward adults.

Obviously, many more elements exist for a quality protection program: identification systems, bathroom policies, room safety features, etc. (For more ideas, check out this download: Implement a Child Protection Program.)

Just as obviously, the days of "I know all my volunteers" have ended. That rationale puts you and your ministry at significant risk. How many people liked and trusted the Boy Scout leader? Tragically, similar stories appear everyday across the country.

Parents expect you to do all you can to protect the precious young ones they trust to your care. In fact, parents will help you put systems in place if you ask; a simple conversation over a cup of coffee will likely result in you finding a safety coordinator.

Just make sure to screen the person.

And don't order a triple espresso.

This article originally appeared on TodaysChildrensMinistry.com.

A Fast (and Free) Way to Assess a Church's Health

"Recent church assessments, such as Natural Church Development, Church Health Assessment Tool, Transforming Church Index, and REVEAL's Spiritual Life Survey, are very helpful—if your church has the time, money, and motivation to hire a consultant and/or get people to take surveys," Kevin Miller recently wrote in Leadership. "Many pastors, though, need a measure that is free and simple, more complete than weekly attendance but just as easy to determine."

Miller, the former publisher of Your Church who now serves as assistant pastor for a church in Wheaton, Illinois, set out to do just that. Inspired by the story of Virginia Apgar, the anesthesiologist who developed a five-point check for newborns (which is now largely credited with radically reducing infant mortality rates in the United States), Miller developed two different "Apgar" scores that churches can use.

They're free, and provide instant results.

The first, based on Acts 2, can be taken here: http://bit.ly/cTKOB8

The second, based on Revelation 2, also can be taken here: http://bit.ly/cTKOB8

What's your church's Apgar? As church administrators, executive pastors, or pastors, do you find this way of assessing your church's vitality a helpful alternative to the "nickels and noses" (budgets and attendance) approach commonly used?

Bothered by the Business of Church

I’ll admit that I like to pull a Scarlett O’Hara when it comes to the less attractive side of church leadership, like getting the parking lot paved or turning in a budget. “Fiddle dee dee!” I shrug. “I can’t think about that now! I’ll think about that tomorrow…”

I think the business of church can be excruciating. What do you get when you take a room full of over-committed volunteers, mix in some underpaid staff workers, and toss in hundreds (or thousands) of church-goer expectations? How about business leaders who are used to managing corporate dollars combined with under-resourced and over-ambitious “kingdom” plans? Welcome to church business.

Continue reading this post at GiftedForLeadership.com.

Can Google Hurt a Church Leader's Job Search?

I keep my CV updated. People often need it to introduce me for conferences. The strange thing is, in this era of shared information, I often do not know where my work has been published. My mother recently let me know that I had an article in an Assemblies of God journal. I had no idea. The viral nature of our information is the magical part of the web. But there are difficult things about it too.

I have friends who make sure that they are on top of each time someone is talking about them on the Internet. I'm not so vigilant. I usually run into stuff by accident, and recently there has been some rather strange things popping up. A "heresy hunter" has been trolling my information. He finds it offensive that I am a woman minister, so he writes unflattering portrayals of my work, peppered with name-calling. The site looks legitimate, and the blogger maintains that he is the pastor of a church, but when you try to look up the congregation, it's actually a Chinese restaurant. As a writer, I shrug and think, Any publicity is good publicity. But as a pastor, I'm not so sure. As church leaders, what we do hinges on our reputation.

This experience has made me wonder: what happens if someone on a search committee Googles the name of a candidate who has been attacked by a vicious blogger? How much will that weigh on the committee's decision? We can usually control what sort of information we put on the Internet about ourselves, but we cannot control what people say about us. We also have very little legal recourse in these situations (to dig deeper, see Daniel Solove).

How do we lead religious institutions in the Google generation? There are a few possibilities:

Continue reading "Search Committees and Google," at Off the Agenda, our sister blog. This article originally appeared in Faith & Leadership (reprinted by permission).

Food Safety at Church Potlucks

Bring out the food, and the fellowship is close behind. Church dinners offer an excellent opportunity to bring the community together. Poor food preparation can spoil a good time, though, so use the following precautions before your next church potluck.

Food Preparation

Look for warning signs. Don't purchase or use canned goods that are damaged or rusted. These signs indicate the food may not be safe regardless of how you prepare it.

Separate quarters. Keep raw seafood, poultry, and meat away from other foods. Use separate cutting boards and make sure any juices are contained.

Now you're cooking. Use a food thermometer to make sure cooked food is heated to the proper temperature. Check the temperature in several places to ensure even cooking.

During the Event

Avoid the danger zone. The danger zone for food is between 40° and 140 °. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold—and all food out of the danger zone.

Keep the evidence. If you suspect a food-borne illness, preserve as much evidence as you can. Save a sample of any suspect food in the freezer—clearly marked as "dangerous." Retain all packaging if possible and contact the appropriate authorities for investigation.

Clean-up time. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer within 2 hours of preparation or within 1 hour if the temperature is above 90°. Do not re-use a container that held raw foods.

Ministering with Food

Consider outreach opportunities. Look for ways to minister with food beyond the congregation potluck. Food ministries can feed the hungry or provide employment opportunities for those in need.

Examine your facilities. Think about current or future food ministries when considering church improvement projects. Factor in seating, counter space, and whether you cook or simply re-heat food in your kitchen when you plan any improvements.

Understand the regulations. How you use the kitchen may determine what kind of licensing or regulations apply. Check with local authorities as your food ministries grow and change.

Go in to further detail about food safety at ChurchSafety.com.

When a Staff Person Isn't Doing the Job

Our sister site BuildingChurchLeaders.com recently released a bundle of training resources titled "Essentials for Church Staffing." It includes the survival guide "Dealing with Staff." Below is an excerpt from one of the articles in that guide, suggesting what to do with an underperforming church employee before you get to the point of firing him or her.

From time to time, I suspect a staff member is malfunctioning. This hardly constitutes evidence for firing, although it may eventually lead to it. What are the steps to take before that drastic measure is called for?

* Quietly investigate. As soon as I suspect trouble, I put my ear to the ground. I ask questions of secretaries or other staff. I do so quietly and casually, asking, "What's going on with So-and-so? How are his groups doing? Anything new coming on line? What's happening in the department? How many people were in his last class?"

* Meet with staff. If two or three staff members suggest there are problems with the person in question, I call a meeting of the entire staff, not including the person in question. I ask how serious the problem is. Is it worth looking into, or should I just forget about it? That's usually when something comes out.

* Encourage staff to be honest with the person. I encourage the rest of the staff to tell the person, in a tactful way, the problems he's causing them—when he didn't come to a meeting, or when he stood somebody up, or when he avoided a job that they got stuck with. They shouldn't keep bailing him out. In the long run, it's better to talk with a problem person. Often honesty from peers will solve the problem.

* Probation. If that doesn't work, I talk to the person, asking for his or her perspective on the problem. Unless something unexpected comes to light, I'll inform the person that if he doesn't show significant change in the next six months, he will be dismissed. I list specific things that trouble me and ways those things can be cleared up. I explain that we will have regular meetings to evaluate his work along the way.

Sometimes this is enough to turn things around. For example, a former staff member didn't realize that we expected creative leadership from him. He thought he was to follow the pattern of a predecessor and merely maintain the status quo. When his creativity and aggressiveness began to lag, I called him in and said, "I think things could be going better."

He listened intently, wanting to know what he should do differently. When I told him, he said, "You give me three or four months, and I'll turn this thing around." I asked for some goals and objectives, which he had for me within a week.

I said, "Okay. You meet those goals, and you're back in business."

He came back in four months, after meeting every one of the goals. He hadn't realized he was supposed to be aggressive. All he needed was honest feedback.

* Bring in the board. By the time I put someone on probation, I have informed the trustee board of what I'm doing. If the board has any questions, they will talk to the person. Before I decide to terminate a staffer, I also ask the board for advice. Board members who are gifted in management and administration often counsel me on how to handle malfunctioning people.

One time I asked a staff member, who used his time poorly, to keep a log over the next 30 days. I wanted to know when he came to work, how many hours he put in, whether he studied at home, where he went. I wanted to know everything he did from the time he got out of bed until the time he went back to bed. My board encouraged me to do that. It turned out to be an excellent approach. Naturally, board members are pledged to confidentiality.

* Get the person to tell you what you said. When I talk with someone about job performance or about an unpleasant decision, I ask the person to repeat what I said. Because they are emotionally off balance in this situation, people may hear things differently than I say them.

Once, because of her poor performance with a particular age level, I had to ask a church schoolteacher to teach a different class. She left the office and immediately called a friend, saying, "Can you imagine! After 14 years of teaching Sunday school, I got fired." Word got back to me, with the question: "Why did you fire So-and-so?" I hadn't fired her; I'd merely told her she was being moved to a different class. Letting people summarize what I've said during the interview eliminates needless misunderstandings.

Adapted from "Dealing with Staff" and originally taken from Mastering Church Management, copyright 1991 Christianity Today International.

The Positive Experience of Check-In/Check-Out Procedures

Parents desire confidence in nursery procedures when they’re visiting churches. One way your church will gain control of a critical piece of the childcare experience is by creating a well-managed check-in and check-out process. You’ll leave parents with a good impression of your church, knowing that their kids are safe.

Make a Good Impression
Set the stage. Parents will make key decisions—including where to attend church—based on the needs of their children. Set the stage for their experience at church with a friendly, but professional greeting process.

Explain the “why” behind procedures. Don’t assume parents will understand all of the risks involved in caring for their children. A thorough discussion of the risks and corresponding procedures will set your parents’ minds at ease and prevent misunderstandings.

State your expectations. Let the parents know—in writing—what you need from them. Be sure to list important rules where you need their cooperation.

Keeping Kids Safe
Create thorough policies. Consider registration, admittance, release and emergency notification processes when you build your policies.

Clearly identify workers. Parents shouldn’t have to guess who the childcare workers are. Clearly identify workers and make sure that you have properly screened them.

Consider a computer-based process. Depending on the size of your church and the make-up of the congregation, you may need to invest in technology to simplify the process. Keep in mind that automated systems still require close monitoring.

Train workers on the process. Elaborate systems are ineffective if workers can’t use them confidently. The primary goal is to keep kids safe, but you want parents to know they are safe as well. A fumbled check-in could send the wrong message.

To learn more about creating check in/out policies and procedures for your church, visit ChurchSafety.com.