In Part 1 of this series we discussed the possible church risks related to people and finances. In this post we will cover the possible property, operational, and emerging risks church leaders must consider in this modern age.

 

3. Property Risks

The church property and building are probably the biggest assets a church has. Most church buildings are built from the ground up using the donations and sweat equity of the members of the church. Thousands of hours of teaching, worship, and fellowship go on in those walls and it is not only a place of fond memories but of important ministry. While God does not live exclusively in the walls of any one church building, having a place to host church and other ministry activities is a blessing and is worth taking precautions to protect.

Consider how your church plans for the following:

• Facility maintenance and inspections
• Accident prevention (slips, trips, and falls)
• Fire protection including functioning fire alarms, extinguishers, and evacuation plans
• Building security such as locks and access control
• Equipment safety especially in areas like the church kitchen or playgrounds

Having a checklist and regularly inspecting the church building is an important task and the staff needs to know who is ultimately in charge of these precautions so they can take concerns to that person. Assigning one person (staff or volunteer) to take on this position and document their work will help ensure these critical precautions are taken on a recurring basis.

 

4. Operational Risks

Operational risks includes how the church is structured, run, and protected.

Something that might be considered both a property and operational risk is the property insurance. It is important to review your property insurance every single time it is up for renewal. What is covered and exclusively not covered by the policy? Is the policy enough to actually cover the replacement cost of the church building should something catastrophic happen? Simply renewing the same plan year after year is not enough.

Other areas of operational risks where careful planning and foresight is required include:

• Other insurance policies such as liability, Directors & Officers (D&O), and vehicle insurance
• Governance policies (board roles, bylaws, and decision-making)
• Transportation policies when it comes to church vehicles such as who has authority to drive and proper vehicle use
• Mission trip considerations
• Facility use agreements
• Vendor management

Having a volunteer who is familiar with operations can be helpful. The senior pastor should also familiarize his or herself with these different operational needs.

 

5. Emerging Risks

Finally, we come to emerging risks. These are newer risks facing churches today. They are fast-evolving and often overlooked.

Consider how your church is planning for the following:

• Preventing data breaches, ransomware, and phishing schemes
• Protecting digitally stored information such as member profiles and donor data
• Online giving platform risks
• Reputation risks when it comes to posting on social media/websites
• Livestream liability (think copyright issues, misuse, etc)
• Digital impersonation scams (such as scam emails that appear to be sent by a church staff member, etc)

Because the internet never sleeps, these issues can happen quickly, at any hour, and will escalate if ignored. We cannot prevent every possible scenario, but choosing the best platforms for our online tools that have built in security as well as training the staff and volunteers can go a long way in preventing these issues from occurring.

 

Which of these risk areas surprised you the most? Which ones does your church need to discuss and consider implementing policy and/or procedures for right away?

 

If you’re feeling lost or overwhelmed, feel free to reach out to Bellwether to discuss where we can partner with your church to mitigate risks especially those related to financials and payroll.