Feeling Safe at Church: Staff Share Their Experiences

Ever wondered how safe your church staff feels when they're on the clock? The latest episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast serves up a compelling discussion on the significance of safety and security within our places of worship. As your host, Todd Rhodes, I'm here to walk you through eye-opening insights from the 2023 Church Staff Health Assessment, where 71% of church staff reported confidence in their church's safety management. But what about the remaining 29%? We're addressing the essential strategies to ensure every staff member can work with peace of mind, discussing everything from safety programs to emergency response plans. 

This conversation is a must-listen for anyone involved in church leadership or who cares deeply about the well-being of their religious community. We're not just talking about locking doors and installing cameras; we're exploring the vitality of communication and the nuances of advanced security measures. Discover how we can collectively foster a safe haven for both staff and congregation, as I share practical steps to support a secure work environment and stress the importance of being prepared for the unexpected. Remember, a church that prays together, stays safe together. Join us as we take this vital topic from the pulpit to the podcast.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Okay, so here's something I bet you haven't really even thought about how safe does your staff feel working at your church?

Speaker 1: 0:16

We're going to talk about that today.

Speaker 1: 0:18

We're going to address safety of your staff and security concerns here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders of chemistrystaffingcom and I'm very glad that you joined us today. Last year, we did what we call the 2023 Church Staff Health Assessment and we found that about 71% of church staff feels that their church handles safety issues, and it's something that we probably don't think about a lot in our churches, but the safety of our staff and the safety of our building are very important and they do feed into. We're talking about work environment this week on the podcast, and how safe staff feel for themselves and their families at your church is really important and it does contribute to work environment, so we're going to talk about that today. It's something that we don't often think about unless there's an issue in the news. There have been some pretty serious events at churches in the past few years that have to do with safety. Some of them have been handled very well. Some of them have been handled very poorly, but we want to make sure that each one of our staff feels safe, so we're going to talk about some strategies and some ideas to help your church staff feel safe. So, if you are a leader, this podcast will help you to put some of these strategies in place. If you are listening and you are a church staff member, hopefully this will be interesting to you as well, and there may be some things that you can do to help your church foster this atmosphere of safety.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Okay, so first strategy is what are you currently doing to enhance any kind of safety programs that you have? Do you have any safety programs? Do you have a medical team on call during your services? What do you have in place as far as building security, not only for your services on the weekend? Do you have a security team? But do you have different security things put into place in your facility and in your buildings during the week to keep your staff safe? Have you implemented those teams? Have you specialized training to run through a wide range of potential scenarios and I think we know what some of those scenarios are but even planning for things that may never happen, planning for them will help set your staff at ease and know that you're concerned about their safety.

Speaker 1: 2:53

Maybe you need to equip your staff with some just some practical response strategies so that your staff knows, when something happens, what they're to do, and that it'll just help ensure that everyone feels well well prepared to handle emergencies. That's strategy. Number one is, if you don't have training programs or teams or anything related to safety right now, if you've just not thought about it, today is the day to start thinking about those things and putting some things on paper as far as security and staff safety and well-being and community congregational safety on the weekends. Strategy number two is the same thing Going through kind of what you're currently doing, maybe doing some drills, regularly assess and refine those emergency response plans, identify areas for improvement, update protocols as needed. It seems to me this is a side note that churches do. Either they either I don't know that you can go overboard, but seem to go overboard or just don't do anything at all. So I think there's a possibility to do both. But really what you want to do is you want to have a comprehensive plan that makes sense, that helps people feel safe. That's really what you need to do. Strategy number three, or idea number three just prioritize your open communication you need to so that, particularly with your staff I wouldn't do this on a Sunday morning in front of everybody, but so that your staff knows that you are concerned about safety, that they know that there are safety initiatives, that they know that there are clear guidelines for reporting any concerns, that they know that there are open discussions available so that staff can feel, if they feel unsafe in any situation, that they can share that experience and give some suggestions. So, open communication as we've said, communication is key in everything, just about every aspect of church. Health and staff well-being, and safety is absolutely one where you have to have really strong communication.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Number four invest in advanced security measures. Sometimes you just have to allocate some resources. There are some very inexpensive and yet state-of-the-art security type systems. It's a lot cheaper than what it used to be guys and gals to go out there and to spend a little bit of money to get a stronger sense of safety in your building, to get a stronger sense of safety in your building, and so if you've not done any of that, with security systems and even some cameras in some public areas, that would be one way that you can help your staff to feel safe and regularly evaluate and upgrade these measures. Like I said, the cost of these has really gone down.

Speaker 1: 5:36

You might think, todd, we're a church, we don't need to do that. You know what. You need to do that because you're a church. Sometimes because we all hear horror stories of outside things that happen, but also inside things that happen inside our churches. However, you can prepare for those things and be ready for those things through some security measures. That would be great.

Speaker 1: 5:58

And then last thing is provide support and resources If you do have incidents or if there are some scares. Counseling services are immensely helpful, debriefing situations. If you have a situation in a service or a situation in a nursery or on a weekend or in the office during the week, debriefing those situations, offering support systems for any staff that may have been affected by any kind of safety concerns or incidents, is very important. You just need to ensure that everyone has access to those resources and whatever resources that they need to feel safe and supported and empowered in their roles. And this is one of those that it kind of just it kind of nips at you and you don't even. It comes out of nowhere and you don't understand. It just wasn't on your radar, but with 30% of the staff saying that maybe I've not thought about that either, but when you ask me, do I feel safe in my church role, in my church environment, in my office on the weekend, do I feel safe? And three out of 10 people say that they don't or they're not sure. This is something that, as a leader, should demand a little bit of attention and a little bit of your time and resources to make sure that your staff and that your congregation feel safe. Creating a culture of safety and well-being in your church is it's really a sacred responsibility. It's really important, and if you can engage your staff in the process, if you can listen to their concerns and work together to create a safe place that has just the highest standards of safety and care, not only during the week but on the weekends, that's going to be a huge piece of making your staff feel safe and to making your staff feel like they're working in a work environment that really cares about them, and that's really important.

Speaker 1: 8:01

Okay, if you have not taken the 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment, head over to churchstaffassessmentcom Right now. Take it. It'll take you about 10 or 15 minutes, it's absolutely free, but I think you'll find out some interesting things about yourself and it'll rate you on how healthy you are in seven key areas of church staff health. Again, it's all free. You can take it right now. It's available right now over at churchstaffassessmentcom. And, as always, I hope you join me, todd Rhodes again tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Thanks so much for listening.