Good stewardship involves more than giving and managing church finances, experts say. To be the best stewards of God’s gifts, church leaders should incorporate risk management in ministry operations to increase the safety and security of their members and facilities.
“The Greek New Testament has three words commonly translated as ‘steward,’ (and) they all have more to do with resource management in general than with finances in particular,” said Jim Swedenburg, coordinator of annuity and insurance services for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). “If you look only at the financial aspect, it is God’s money we put at risk.”
In a recent Associated Baptist Press article, Texas-based risk management consultant Dick Baggett said when church leaders fail to identify and manage risks in areas such as legal liability, health and safety standards, and compliance with civil-rights laws, they neglect an important aspect of biblical stewardship. These obligations call for protecting [God’s] assets and people entrusted to us.
The State of Division of Risk Management defines risk management as “the process of identifying, controlling and treating risks of all kinds — from accidents, fires and thefts to equipment breakdowns and liability suits.”
Eric Spacek, church risk management media spokesperson for GuideOne Insurance, said incidents are common in both large and small churches. He encourages leaders to make risk management an integral part of ministry and take action before anything happens.
“Whereas one in 15 people file a home insurance claim, one in five churches will have a claim in a given year,” Spacek said. “We really recommend that churches focus on this as a part of their ministry and form a ministry team to look at six broad areas of safety and security management in the churches — facilities, finances, children and youth, emergency planning, transportation and worker safety.”
Unfortunately many Baptist congregations throughout the state have not followed this advice.
“Most Alabama churches are smaller than 60 people in attendance,” Swedenburg said. “In most cases, we operate our churches believing that such things cannot happen in smaller churches. Many of these issues are overlooked until something goes wrong.”
At times, congregations neglect these matters because they are unaware of government laws, regulations and monitoring agencies with which they should comply, according to Swedenburg. One such governing body is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which also has jurisdiction over churches.
To help churches manage risks and protect their members and facilities, the SBOM offers a semiannual legal issues conference at the Baptist building in Montgomery.
“People need to know what the risks are, what other churches have experienced and what they can do to prevent problems from crippling their church,” Swedenburg said. “When a church is sued, it takes a lot of resources, time and money to deal with the lawsuit, and that time and money has to come from what was being spent on ministry. These conferences are to educate them about what the problems are and prevent them from happening.”
The University of Alabama College of Continuing Studies also provides the Safe State Occupational Safety and Health Consultation Program at no cost to small business employers — 250 or less employees on site or 500 total employees, Swedenburg added.
According to the college’s Web site, at your invitation, consultants will come to your office or plant to perform a survey and to advise you of existing or potential health and safety problems in your facility, suggest general approaches or options for solving those problems, identify other help available if further assistance is needed and provide you with a written report summarizing the findings of the visit.
To be good risk managers and stewards, Swedenburg also recommends that churches purchase and implement suggestions from “Safe and Secure” by Jeffrey W. Hanna.
For more information on the Safe State program, call 1-800-452-5928. GuideOne also offers free church safety and security resources at www.guideonecenter.com.
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