Developing an Effective Armed Church Security Team

Developing a safe and effective armed church security team requires assessment, planning, training, deployment, and most importantly, fellowship. We see many examples of “ad-hoc” or informal approaches taken to develop armed church security teams. While we certainly commend the initiative behind this effort, we also caution those deploying this approach. The reason for the caution is that most of the time we see teams that have not been properly trained and are ill-prepared to deal with a lethal force confrontation.

Christian churches today face a chaotic set of evolving threats. These threats go beyond simple “active shooters” to include protest, activism, terrorist and even religous threats. A properly trained and deployed team should be ready to address this uncertain environment. And the ability to mount an immediate armed defense against a lethal threat should always be the first skill trained and last to be deployed. Developing an armed church security team requires:

• A full range of critical gun handling and tactical skills.
• Training that correctly instructs and provides sufficient repetition to establish habits of action.
• Teaching situational awareness and decision making through stressful reality-based training.

As most cops and veterans will tell you, having done it, does not necessarily make you a teacher or instructor. Developing these capabilities requires experienced instructors and a comprehensive curriculum.

Training is the Foundation for an Effective Armed Church Security Team.

You do not need to be law enforcement or military to serve on an armed church security team. We train novice civilians to safely and effectively eliminate a lethal threat . We prefer serving or retired cops as team leaders because of their experience de-escalating potentially lethal confrontations.

Many gun owners, and especially first-time gun buyers, treat the firearm as a magical talisman that will ensure their safety by its mere presence. A 4-hour concealed carry course does not prepare you to mount an active defense. And if the last time you did any real training with your weapon was 6 months ago then you’ve lost 90% of your training.  If you want to complete a 10k you must train for it. Simply buying the shoes and shorts won’t get you across the finish line. You need professional instruction and most importantly, guided practice, to accomplish your training objective.

If your training isn’t changing habits, then its not training. The foundation for proper gun training is instruction plus practice. Our methodology is based upon training the tactical/combative skills that will allow you to assess your situation, make effective decisions, retake the initiative, and win the fight.

That fight, if it comes, will likely end in death or serious injury for one or more participants. Sound, immediate life and death decision-making developed through realistic, high stress scenario-based training, and the gun handling skills developed under close tutelage and repetitive practice, will save you.

All of our training begins with an interactive plan that describes exactly what you need to do to accomplish your training objective. This plan draws from more than 10 years of blended training content we created; scripts, videos, manuals, courses, webinars, seminars, and most importantly – methodology.

The plan and IP is delivered using a blended platform of online and in person methods assuring that the instruction you receive is faithfully practiced. These are our recommended training guidelines for new gun owners: