Active Shooter Training for Churches and Faith-Based Organizations
Help Protect Members of Your Faith With Expert Training
Churches, temples, and other faith-based organizations serve as places of sanctuary for communities all across the country. People of faith gather together to pray, learn, or simply enjoy fellowship with other members of their organization. As an administrator of a faith-based organization, you have a responsibility to keep your staff and congregation safe. Fortunately, you can greatly reduce the risk of violent incidents with active shooter training for churches and houses of worship.
Overview
Is Your Faith-Based Organization Prepared for the Unthinkable?
Places of worship are sacred places where everyone is meant to be welcome, but violent intruder active shooter incidents can happen anywhere, including faith-based communities. Since many of these organizations have little to no security, preparedness is all the more important. This doesn’t mean that you should feel unsafe at your place of worship, but it does mean that taking extra steps to prepare for a potential incident can make you and your congregation feel far more secure, and potentially save lives in the process.
Acts of violence in houses of worship are somewhat rare, but no organization regardless of size, location, resources, faith, or denomination is completely immune to the risk posed by a violent intruder. Moreover, places of worship can ignite a variety of ‘hot button’ issues like conflicting religious views and politically-fueled anger. So, how would your institution respond if it came under attack?
Why Churches & Houses of Worship Need Active Shooter Training More Than Ever
As previously mentioned, houses of worship are designed to be places of peace and tranquility. Unfortunately, this can make them a target for individuals who want to spread hate, violence, and chaos. Unsuspecting worshippers could be at great risk if your organization does not have a plan of action in place. Even if you do have emergency procedures, your members may lack the necessary training to react with the right strategies to prevent or respond to an attack.
Again, attacks on churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship are somewhat rare — but they do happen. With growing angst surrounding political and religious freedom in the United States, attacks on these places of worship will likely become more and more common. As a result, the time to prepare is now. After all, it is better to be prepared ahead of time than to wait until it is too late.
Why Houses of Worship Put Their Faith in National VIPS
Houses of worship are almost never designed to train their members to deal with “fight or flight” situations. This is why National VIPS is such a trusted source of knowledge. Our expert instructors have extensive law enforcement and training experience and know what it takes to save lives and deter violence when someone enters your building with a weapon. We know what it takes to save lives and deter violence when someone enters your building with a weapon. Additionally, we get to know your organization, staff, and members to ensure that we can work together on a security plan that keeps you safe and does not infringe on your beliefs.
Make National VIPS Your Partner in Safety
Frequently Asked Questions
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Are more violent individuals targeting houses of worship?
If you watch the news, you probably know that there have been several high-profile shootings in places of worship around the United States and the world. However, this is also in line with the upward trend of public shootings in all types of locations. Therefore, it is not that houses of worship are more likely to be targeted; it is that active shooters are becoming more common in general. -
Should our faith-based organization have a security system?
At National VIPS, we understand that churches and other houses of worship don’t always have the budget to implement state-of-the-art security systems. However, there are ways to keep your building and community safe without spending a fortune. When we run a Vulnerability Assessment of your organization, we can help you find budget-friendly ways to enhance your security system. -
Is active shooter training safe for our entire congregation?
Active shooter training with National VIPS is completely safe because we do not use guns and we promote confidence and awareness, as opposed to fear and paranoia. That said, these courses do deal with reality-based scenarios. So, while we believe that everyone within your organization should be informed, we ultimately let you decide if some people (like young children) are not ready for active shooter training. It is our experience that many faith organizations provide the training to leadership, and both paid- and volunteer staff, to provide guidance to the congregation should an incident take place.