OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — By definition, a "sanctuary" should be a place of refuge and protection where people feel welcome and feel safe.
In practice, churches struggle with what it means to open their doors to everyone while providing a sense of security for people inside their walls.
And if that holds true when groups gather for worship, the tension mounts for personnel who work alone on weekdays in a church office.
Changing policy
Until a few months ago, First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City maintained an open-door policy during business hours. A person could walk into the church facility through any of several unlocked entrances.
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"Our policy was to keep the outside doors open to give an air of invitation to anyone in need, while locking most inside doors to keep us secure," said Kristin Rogers, administrative associate and minister to children and families at the downtown Oklahoma City church.
"While this served us well for 98 percent of the people who entered, we did frequently have to clear the building of people who wandered in and stayed. This is an old building with many nooks and crannies in which to hide."
In time, the congregation realized the policy created a security risk.
"Our biggest struggle lay in the fact that we purposefully invite the working poor and homeless into our building to find resources, and we did not want to discourage them from getting much-needed help," Rogers said. "Yet the staff would meet a stranger in the bathroom bathing, or someone passing through a hall that should be empty, and feel very ill at ease."
The church assembled a security team that included police officers, firefighters and other first-responders to emergency situations. The group surveyed the situation and quickly recognized a problem.
"Every person in that group felt our church was too open during the week," Rogers said. "Still, the ministerial staff resisted locking the building."
The strongest opposition to changing the church's open-door policy came from the church secretary who typically arrives first at the building each weekday morning, she noted.
"She felt she could handle the situation and didn't like the impression it gave people who had to request being let in," Rogers recalled.
However, the Oklahoma City church finally changed its policy after robbers entered North Pointe Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, killed 29-year-old Pastor Clint Dobson and beat his 67-year-old ministry assistant, Judy Elliot.
"This man had been a seminary friend (at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary) of some of our ministers," Rogers said. "It hit too close to home. We made the decision to lock the outside doors during business hours and use security cameras to buzz people in. The system is new, but we have successfully adapted. And the staff feels safer working in the building."
A weekday welcome center
South Main Baptist Church in the midtown area of Houston balances the need for security with the desire to welcome everyone by keeping only one entrance to the church facility open Monday through Friday but making that point of entry a hospitable place.
"We direct everyone to the entrance at the main welcome center," explained Bill Pugh, facilities and properties manager at South Main Baptist.
The church employs security staff to provide for the security of weekday workers, as well as worshippers on Sunday and Wednesday. One security officer is on duty on weekdays, two on Wednesday evening and three each Sunday.
"They are the first to show up to open the building and are the last to leave and lock up," Pugh said.
Typically, a security officer is stationed at the welcome center on weekdays.
"We have a lot of people off the street who walk in, looking for assistance," Pugh explained. Anyone is welcome within the confines of the entryway, but access is limited beyond that point.
Typically, a security guard greets anyone who enters the church seeking assistance. He records the specific needs of the individual and then calls the appropriate minister on duty who comes to the welcome center to provide help.
In the unlikely event a person enters the church when a security officer is away from the welcome center, that individuals could follow signs to the church office and have access to the waiting area. However, the office area where ministerial assistants work is locked until the office manager grants access to visitors.
Limited access
Similarly, First Baptist Church in El Paso, Texas, makes only one entrance accessible to the public during weekday office hours. Anyone seeking entry must use the intercom mounted there to request admission, and a security camera mounted at that entrance enables office personnel to monitor the door.
People who stop by the church asking for help are allowed into the foyer where a minister greets them, records information about them and seeks to provide for needs or make appropriate referrals.
Ministers normally restrict access to the rest of the facility, particularly to ensure the safety of children in an onsite daycare program, Pastor David Lowrie noted.
Twice a month, First Baptist Church sponsors a three-hour outreach ministry to ex-offenders from a local halfway house. Volunteers work with the men to help them secure state identification cards, as well as allowing them to select clothing for job interviews from a benevolence closet.
"On those mornings, we have additional men on hand to provide those services, as well as maintain a sense of security," Lowrie said.
Parking lot patrol
Whenever the church building is open after daylight—for committee meetings, Bible studies or other functions—paid personnel patrol the parking lots to grant, or occasionally deny, access to the building.
"We benefit from having security people in the parking lots who know the neighborhood, know the people here and are capable of exercising good judgment," Lowrie said.
Even though First Baptist Church is located within two miles of the international bridge to Juarez—the scene of violent killings related to drug cartels—the church has no special security policies directly related to it, he said.
The church has no armed security personnel on its campus. However, Lowrie noted, the congregation includes quite a few local and federal law enforcement personnel and Border Patrol agents, and it draws military personnel from Fort Bliss.
"So, if anything ever did happen during a service here, it would be interesting to see how many would be rushing in to respond, as opposed to rushing out," he said.
Backpack policy
One safeguard South Main Baptist in Houston has implemented and found effective deals with backpacks in the building, Pugh noted.
"Particularly with the homeless, many of them carry their possessions in a backpack," he noted. As a safety precaution, no backpacks are allowed beyond the welcome center on weekdays or beyond any entrance when worshippers gather.
Anyone carrying a backpack is required to check it in and then is given the numbered stub to a two-part claim ticket—"like valet parking uses," Pugh explained. Before the visitor exits the facility, he or she can present the ticket and reclaim the backpack.
Security through friendliness
Chester Quarles
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A warm, welcoming atmosphere actually makes churches more secure, said Chester L. Quarles, professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Mississippi. Quarles sees greeters who welcome worshippers at each entrance to the church facility as "components of an effective guardian program" for any congregation.
"Criminals don't want a welcoming. They don't want your greeter to look them in the eye or to shake their hand," said Quarles, co-author of Crime Prevention for Houses of Worship. Criminals are looking for targets, not companionship.
"A cold-hearted church that does not recognize nor greet visitors—indeed, the members don't even speak to visitors—is like a magnet to the criminal," he said. "Warm-hearted, caring churches are crime-resistant by their very nature."
First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City already understands that principle.
"We are training deacons that the best defense is friendliness," Rogers said. "If they will make an effort to shake hands and greet each stranger, it can often deter someone with bad intentions."
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Ken Camp is managing editor of the Baptist Standard.
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