Jeff Hawkins is the founder and Executive Director of the Christian Security Network out of Cincinnati, Ohio.  Jeff is past Chief Security Officer for a world-wide Christian ministry. He is a senior public safety/security professional with almost 30-years of diverse experience working for profit, not-for-profit and government organizations on a local, regional, and global level.  In 2009 the Christian Security Network under Jeff’s direction began tracking crimes against Christian organizations.  They have attempted to collect as many incidents as possible from a variety of sources over the last 12 months in hopes to show a statistical sampling of the whole by looking at the few and compare this data in future years. Certain crimes like homicides or arsons, are easier to document; property crimes are much more difficult and most likely the rates are much higher than contained in this report, conservatively 5 to 6 times higher, making total incidents and dollar loss much greater. Overall, the conclusion may be reached that all areas of the country are experiencing crimes against Christian organizations and location, size, and denomination have little bearing on those organizations becoming a victim.

The report provides statistical information relative to the types of incidents and costs associated with the various types of incidents. 

For a much more comprehensive review of these statistics, please visit: http://www.christiansecuritynetwork.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=5&Itemid=86

If this link does not work, go to www.ChristianSecurityNetwork.org, select the tab that says “Store” and then select “Misc Publications”.

Disclaimer. This post/blog does not constitute legal advice. You should consult a lawyer if you have any questions about any issues in this article that might impact your specific church. On-line legal information can become out-of-date and are subject to legal interpretation depending on particular facts and circumstances.  ICSARM maintains a list of qualified Christian attorneys across the United States and Canada.

Michael Boutot is the founder of the Institute for Church Safety & Risk Management, LLC (ICSARM), a church consulting group specializing in insurance evaluations, risk management assessments and litigation management. Michael can be reached at michael@churchriskmanagement.org or via phone at (662) 322-6713. To learn more about ICSARM, visit http://www.ChurchRiskManagement.org.