Safe Sanctuaries: Security Update
As many of you know, we have taken a number of steps over the past months to provide greater security for people at worship, those visiting our building and our staff. This has been in response to a few incidents here and to the general rise in anxiety over safety in public spaces. We have tried to do this in a way that maintains a spirit of hospitality to visitors and minimizes inconvenience to our church community. We have learned some things along the way. So here is an update.
We will continue to keep all outside doors to the building locked with these exceptions:
- - On Sunday mornings, the front doors will be open and there will be a greeter there to welcome people. The door into the Gathering Space from the lake side of the building will be locked but an usher will be there to let people in.
- - During the week during regular office hours – 9am to 4pm Monday through Thursday – the outside front door will be unlocked but we are asking people to use the intercom in the vestibule between the doors to ask that the inside door be unlocked for them.
- - When groups meet in the building outside of regular office hours, they will need to have one person with a key FOB to unlock the door and then have someone at the door to let in others.
On Sunday mornings, our building manager will be in the Gathering Hall during the services to watch for people arriving either through the front door or wanting to come in through the door on the lake side. Our nursery and kids’ ministry staff have been briefed on how to handle any concerns that may arise in areas where children are.
If anyone sees anything that concerns them, please let one of our staff members know about it. And if you have questions about how we are handling this, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks so much for helping us keep our building a safe and welcoming place for everyone.
Pastor Phil