Securing Places of Worship
November 20th, 2016 Posted by Gary Harrington 0 thoughts on “Securing Places of Worship”Course Details
Church Safety and Security Planning (CSSP): This is the foundation of all church safety courses at the Power of Prudence Academy. It focuses on the fundamentals of a program to secure your place of worship.
Course Details
Intro: Recently, terror and violence at places of worship have been in the spotlight. Events such as mass shootings at churches in South Carolina and Texas, as well as smaller attacks at other churches or the brutal beheading of a priest during a mass in France have underscored the need to put thought and effort into protecting the people that come to our churches. How then do we as church bodies come up with measures that not only protect our members and guests but preserve the sanctity of our worship environment and maintain our principle of welcoming all? The good news is there are a variety of methods and techniques that each church can use to maintain the balance between security, and its principles each church determines is appropriate.
The Power of Prudence Academy has several courses that will walk you through the process of developing and implementing church safety programs and plans, teach multiple techniques that allow churches options with regards to the level of lethality each wishes to employ or come along beside your church group to work through the planning process with you. Please look at the course descriptions below to choose one that suits your needs. Whether you are a parishioner, a church officer, volunteer or part of church leadership, The Power of Prudence Academy would like to come along beside you and help you provide a loving, welcome, and safe environment at your place of worship.
Course: Church Safety and Security Planning (CSSP): This is the foundation of all church safety courses at the Power of Prudence Academy. It focuses on the fundamentals of a program to secure your place of worship.
Outcome: This course will provide an outline for you and your church to follow in developing, coordinating and disseminating a church safety and security program, as well as the information you need to determine how you will address each part of the program.
Description: In this course, we cover the difference between a safety program and a plan. We cover the lashup between your church plan and local law enforcement. We discuss in detail whether or not to allow weapons in the sanctuary or elsewhere. ( could be a short video beside this to go into detail) [We talk about the realities of shooting in a crowded venue in the midst of panic and chaos. Any church considering firearms in its sanctuary should go through this. Your church still must decide to arm or not, but it will have all the real-life considerations at hand to make an informed decision.] We cover other contingencies such as bomb threats, fire and emergency evacuations, as well as non-lethal threats such as protestors or agitators. We discuss various measures based on budget, church layout and the number of personnel available. We cover the qualifications, selection, initial training, and refresher training of personnel.
This course is offered via video modules and comes with a workbook. It is self-paced. Can be paid in 3 installments or 1 payment at a reduced price.
A VIP plan is also available which includes a private FB discussion group where we can share issues we face in our churches’ planning, what works and does not and share ideas on how to overcome challenges we face. It also includes a live two-day seminar taught by Gary Harrington. It will include time for individual churches to discuss their own needs as we go through the planning process together. This course is limited to the first 100 enrollees. Breakfast and lunch included; hotel, transportation, and supper on your own.