More than half of U.S. churches rely on armed members as part of security plan: Survey

More than half of Protestant churches rely on armed members as part of their security plans, a survey of pastors shows.

About 81% of churches have at least one security measure in place and 54% rely on armed congregants as part of their security, according to a survey of 1,000 pastors conducted by the evangelical research group Lifeway Research.

The most-cited option, reported by 57% of pastors, is to have “an intentional plan for an active shooter situation.” Having armed members was the second most-cited security option. Third was radio communications among security personnel (26%), followed by a no-firearms policy for church buildings (21%).

Twenty percent of churches said they have armed private security personnel on-site, and 5% said uniformed police officers are present during worship. One percent said they have metal detectors at entrances.

Scott McConnell, Lifeway Research’s executive director, said security is an important issue for Protestant houses of worship.

“Churches are not immune to violence, disputes, domestic disagreements, vandalism and burglary,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement. “While loving one another is a core Christian teaching, churchgoers still sin, and non-churchgoers are invited and welcomed. So real security risks exist whether a congregation wants to acknowledge them or not.”

Security at houses of worship has become increasingly important in recent years. On March 27, Audrey Hale, who identified as a man, killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Police shot and killed Hale, a former student, during the attack.

The Covenant Presbyterian Church operates the school. Its pastor, the Rev. Chad Scruggs, lost his daughter, Hallie, in the shooting.

The deadliest church shooting occurred in 2017 at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas, where a gunman killed 26 people, including an unborn child.

Other shootings in recent years have targeted other houses of worship. Eleven Jewish worshippers died Oct. 27, 2018, when Robert Bowers opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. He is currently being tried, and could receive a death sentence if convicted.

According to the Lifeway survey, 12% of pastors in Black congregations reported having uniformed police on-site during worship, compared to 4% of White pastors. And 34% of Black churches said they have a no-firearms policy, compared to 21% of White congregations.

Conversely, 56% of White pastors said armed church members attend worship, compared to 33% of Black pastors.

Security planning often varied by size and denomination. Churches with a weekly attendance of fewer than 50 people (29%) were most likely to say they aren’t using any of the security preparations methods noted in the survey. Those with a weekly attendance of at least 250 were most likely to say they have armed members (74%) and uniformed police (24%).

Pastors in mainline Protestant denominations, at 22%, were more likely to say they do not use any of the security measures listed in the poll, compared to 14% of evangelical pastors.

“Most churches are small, so security plans often don’t need to be elaborate or expensive,” Mr. McConnell said.

Lifeway said the phone survey was conducted Sept. 6-30 from a list of Protestant churches. A senior or sole pastor at each church was interviewed. Lifeway said the sampling margin of error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.