Risk Manangement in Today's Church

RISK MANANGEMENT IN TODAY'S CHURCH

Risk management is one of many important policies that should be implemented in today's church. Church should be aware of not just sexual risk, but all types of risk. Other risks included are any type of fire, thieves, and abusers. In recent years, churches have to really educate their members during orientation on what the church stands for and what is expected of them as a member. Also, educating new members on risk management should definitely be a part of the orientation class. It is good to have leaders in place to communicate with the members, because everyone that is a member of the congregation, has a pure intention of praising and worshiping God, but being a predator preying on the weak. This is the main reason some type of plan is in place.

Safety and Security

A church should be a place of where saints come together to worship and praise God. It should be a place of freedom from the things this unfriendly world; a place of protection. Today, the church has become a battleground for predators. Within the year and a half, St. Mariah Missionary Baptist Church have been broken once and two attempts. The first time, someone fail to set the alarm. They burglars stole the pastor's computer and ram shack the finance office. The alarm was set with the two attempts; of course they ran away before the Sheriff Department arrived. As a safety precaution, the custodians have to make sure the alarmed is set after every function at the church.

There are many safety issues that have not been addressed at St. Mariah Missionary Baptist Church. According to Welch, churches are an accident waiting to happen. The church

do not know when an accident will occur, but should always be prepared if it does. Being a member of this church for eight years and church administrator, a safety inspection has never taken place. As a safety precaution against burglars, the church installed an alarm system, and changed the door locks to commercial locks. The locks will allow congregates to exit, but not enter. When money is collected for tithes and offerings, the rear doors, where the finance room is located are locked. The doors remain locked until the end of worship service.

Welch stated that code compliance is important because it defines how should open, how many people should be in a building and so forth. It is embarrassing to say that a fire chief from a local fire department is a member of the St. Mariah Missionary Baptist Church. This risk prevention will be addressed at the next quarterly meeting.

Welch also emphasized the importance of the OSHA Safe Working Environment Law of 1986. He stated that churches are not exempt from complying with this law. St. Mariah is a very small church; the only paid people are the pastor, musicians, custodians, and lawn keeper. This law has never been mentioned or enforced in the church. It is very important that the custodians make sure that walkways and the sanctuary