by Tim Adams
When we think of tech, what all falls under that umbrella? Some of you might think that it only incorporates audiovisual elements throughout the church; for example, audiovisual in the sanctuary and televisions throughout the facility, with either local content for display or to be used to display happenings the sanctuary itself.
Others might define it as anything technical, such as IT, computers, security cameras, ingress/egress, HVAC controls, etc.
For this article, we will be looking at why it makes sense for AV to at least be included in discussions, plans, implementation, and operations of security systems.
The first reason is that the tech department arguably has the largest financial investment in items that can and are often stolen. So there is automatically a vested interest in ensuring the AV equipment is protected and secured and that starts with being monitored. Whether your cameras stay out or are put away in a locked room, or your AV booth is open to the sanctuary are behind locked doors and glass partitions, knowing who has access and who has entry into your area(s) can only be a good thing.
I know of at least half a dozen churches just in my area and denomination that have had break-ins and equipment stolen in the last few years alone so it’s not an isolated issue and security is certainly something to be thinking about, particularly with crime and errant behavior on the rise.
What to Consider
Security itself is a fairly broad topic and one that we need to be seriously discussing and considering. From entry (ingress) to exit (egress), restricting access to our facilities is a hot topic. On the one hand, we don’t want to send the message that we are not trusting or welcoming of our community. On the other hand, there are those in our communities that regularly abuse church outreach programs and thus reduce the availability of assistance for others that may need it for more honest needs.
Additionally, being able to have a security plan for active shooters, child predators, and policies to protect children in bathroom visits and other situations where they could be alone with an adult, etc. How about who has access to surveillance camera feeds? Or even showing minors on your live stream and public-facing website and social media pages?
All of this falls under security and bears serious consideration for your church. Even rural churches should at least have conversations about how to deal with these situations and policies. It’s not a far stretch to hear about a shooting in a rural church; one just got thwarted just recently in Texas, in fact. People are continually being stretched to their breaking points from a variety of sources and the truth is, we don’t know who is going to break next or why. I know of one church that not only has a security team in place, but the pastors and the security team are all concealed carriers and feel justified in taking lethal action, if necessary.
Each church needs to decide what they feel is appropriate and it’s important to find a balance between being welcoming and bearing the responsibility to provide a level of reasonable protection for those already in the building. Even the best security team can’t protect against all threats, nor do I think it right to simply turn a blind eye to the realities of the world around us and do nothing.
Maybe you are thinking about cameras around your facility but are unsure of where they should be placed and how to run wires to them. And, as annoying and labor-intensive as it is, you need to get wired cameras. Wireless are nice because they are convenient, but that also makes them accessible for hacking and nefarious use, as well. As far as where to place them, you’ll want coverage of your entry/exit doors, along with hallways and doorways leading to rooms where people can hide. The ideal system would allow you to track an individual anywhere in the building or at least to most places. Every system will have blind spots unless you have unlimited budget to scale your system appropriately. If you have a large facility, you will likely have multiple systems, each with 4, 8, 16 or 32 cameras monitoring a given area. You will also want to ensure your recording device is secured behind a locked door with limited keys given out. If someone needs to access the camera feeds, most modern systems provide app access remotely and thus alleviates the need for physical access.
Integrated Systems
If you want to get the best type of system, in my opinion, then you’ll want an integrated camera, alarm and entry system. This allows remote access to let people in, arm and disarm the alarm and access to view surveillance cameras all in one app. It is the most expensive option, but also tends to provide the best value overall.
Let’s talk about minors being shown to the public. This should be a very big concern to your leadership and to parents because you never know who is watching the live stream or looking over pictures on a website. I remember coming across a church website that had professional pictures from nearly every weekend service over the past year and the children’s service was no different. You’re effectively advertising to child predators what and who they can find at your church and that should at least be discussed with pastors, the church board and with parents. We should be offering alternatives to better protect our children and minors that enter through our doors; we bear a responsibility to protect them to the best of our abilities.
This can be in the form of changing the children’s story to have kids sit on the front rows of pews rather than the stage steps and thus only the person telling the story is shown. You could have a pre-recorded children’s story pulled from a library that is shown on the live stream (or other pre-recorded video) while the children’s story is happening in-person. You could put any event pictures behind a member login on the website and use stock images on your public-facing webpages and social media. It would also be a great idea to have parents sign release forms every year for each child as a legal protection for the church itself, should anything ever happen to a minor.
We take a fair amount of time to think about physical security for our facilities, but often overlook cyber security. We also need to consider ways to protect the church website, ensure access to social media pages are by people who actually need it, provide a secure network inside our buildings (both Wi-Fi and wired network), as a few examples. Perhaps you have a network engineer or a law enforcement officer as a member that could teach a class on personal security for your members.
We live in a broken and fallen world and that means we are going to encounter individuals who are broken and act out in unpredictable ways. Brokenness breeds brokenness, as I often say. We need to walk in faith with God, surely, but we also need to take the steps necessary to protect ourselves, our church and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Tim Adams spent over 20 years volunteering in church technical ministry and now focuses on helping small churches achieve technical excellence through equipment upgrades, training, sharing best practices and teaching leadership how to cast God-sized vision.