Emergency preparedness for churches used to mean having a plan for responding to reports of fires and severe weather.

Today, churches must also be prepared to deal with crises created by violent people, such as a Wisconsin man who killed seven people and himself during a March 2005 church service.

While such events seem unthinkable, they're happening with increasing frequency in business, schools, and churches. There are things you can do to prepare for the unexpected and reduce the stress you may feel if such an emergency were to arise.

Develop a Plan
Creating a violence response plan involves assessing your individual situation, determining how to respond, and practicing what to do if it happens.

In many ways, it's identical to creating a disaster response plan for weather-related events. The only difference is the type of threat you face.

Form a Team to Assess Risks
You'll need more than one person to help you plan for a mass casualty event. Enlist a broad cross-section of people, including staff, volunteers, and church members, who can contribute their expertise to the plan. Have your team determine where your ministry is vulnerable.

Consider what could happen during service times or on weekdays when only a few staff members are present. Also think about what could happen at a school, preschool, or day care center you operate. For example, could a gunman easily enter a children's wing and threaten those in classrooms? This is a time to imagine worst-case scenarios. Developing your response will come later.

Prepare for Threats
There are basically three threats to prepare for, according to school safety expert Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International.

* The report of a weapon. Someone claims to be armed in the building. (This is the most common.)

* The use of a weapon. Someone is brandishing a gun, knife, or other threatening object.

* A hostage situation or barricaded gunman. Someone with a weapon is prepared to harm another person if his or her demands are not met.

Determine Your Response
After listing your vulnerability to such threats, determine the probability of each event happening and its impact on people, property, and the ministry. Then, determine how you will deal with them, keeping in mind that your response on a Sunday morning might differ drastically from what you would do on a weekday morning.

Improve Building Security
Security equipment that could help prevent or reduce the impact of violent situations is a key consideration. Consider modifying your building so that it can be locked in zones to provide secure havens for the people inside.

For example, allowing visitors access to a lobby area while the office suite and remainder of the building are securely locked provides time to determine a visitor's intentions before allowing him or her access to other parts of the facility. Placing the nursery and Sunday school areas behind a set of security doors allows teachers to quickly secure the area without evacuating the children.

Video cameras could record information crucial for apprehending and prosecuting a suspect. In addition, you might install a panic button or silent alarm that locks doors and/or alerts authorities to an emergency situation.

Establish Protocol
Your church may already have a plan in place for dealing with fire or weather emergencies. In many cases, you can modify that plan to deal with incidents of violence in your congregation. Here are some aspects to consider:

* Communication: If you have a large church, how will you communicate that there's a threatening intruder on the other side of the building and that people need to evacuate? Solutions include using a public address system or assigning people to deliver the message to various parts of the church.

In addition, someone needs to quickly notify law enforcement and deal with a possibly overwhelming response from people concerned about the situation, including friends, family members, the community, and the media.

* Evacuation: How will people leave the building and where do they go afterward? Determine escape routes, designate where people should meet after evacuating, and assign people to make sure that everyone gets out. Have a buddy system for people with disabilities. Post evacuation routes and procedures throughout the building.

* Responsibilities: Who will do what? Create a list (wallet size, if possible) of all persons on and off site who would be involved in responding to a crisis of this nature. Note their responsibilities and their 24-hour telephone numbers. Assign someone to keep this information up to date.

* First aid: How will you treat the injured? Buy a commercial first-aid kit and keep it stocked. Train key volunteers and staff in first aid and CPR procedures.

* Training: How will you ensure that everyone knows what to do in a crisis situation? You'll need to provide general training regularly to make sure that new people know what to do and experienced people remember their roles. Remember to update responsibilities as church membership changes.

Coordinate With Others
Talk with first responders, emergency managers, community organizations and others about how you can prepare for violent incidents and respond to them. Your local police department's Special Response Team (SRT) or Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit may have a response plan that it would be willing to share.

In addition, the school system may be able to recommend some safety experts who have conducted training workshops in your area. Be sure that the expert you choose comes with proper credentials and has experience working with churches. Ask other churches about their crisis response plans, and encourage them to start continuity planning, if they haven't already. Offer to help them, if you can.

Conduct Practice Drills
Regularly review and practice what you intend to do during and after an emergency with drills and exercises. Ask someone from an emergency response agency to observe the drill and offer advice for improvement.

Repeated practice helps people remember their roles and remain calm during an actual crisis. Drills can also identify problems in your response plan that could be prevented.

Inform the Congregation
Your staff and volunteers aren't the only ones who need to know what to do during an emergency. If someone with a weapon appears in the sanctuary, people will panic. They need to know that the protocol is for everyone to find emergency exits and escape as quickly as possible.

Parents instinctively will want to retrieve children from other parts of the building, but this can result in chaos and delay. Consider practicing a drill immediately after a worship service or find another way to inform the congregation about your emergency procedures.

You could use an announcement period or discussion time to outline the evacuation plan, point out the emergency exits, and explain the procedures for protecting children in the nursery and Sunday school classrooms.

Other ways of informing your congregation about emergency policies include the church bulletin, visitor packets, and handouts for parents when they drop off children in the nursery. Regular reminders will be necessary, since memories fail and attendees come and go.

Review Your Plan Annually
Just as your ministry changes over time, so do your preparedness needs. When you hire new employees, launch new ministry initiatives, or expand your building, you should update your plans and inform your staff, volunteers, and congregation.

It's easy to imagine that something so tragic could never happen at your church, but experience has shown that it could happen anywhere. With sufficient forethought, planning, and practice, you can help ensure that your ministry is as prepared as possible to face sudden threats to the congregation.

This article came from "Safety Central" at www.brotherhoodmutual.com. Used by Permission.

Protecting Your Church from Crime and Violence Download
As you seek to minister to the desperate and hurting, are there ways to protect your congregation from sinister motives? This downloadable resource is designed to help you assess the security of your church and learn how to prevent a crime or tragedy from occurring within your ministry.

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