Violence that targets houses of worship can force faith leaders to grapple with a delicate balance — protecting congregations while also making sure churches, synagogues and mosques remain open and welcoming.
Some religious leaders have been reassessing their safety protocols — or introducing them for the first time — by training staff and volunteers, and weighing whether safety measures like metal detectors, expanded camera systems or firearms belong inside sacred spaces.
Should faith communities invest in measures once reserved for government buildings and airports?
These questions have gained new urgency after the recent attack on a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, that left four people dead; a stabbing outside a synagogue that killed two in Manchester, England; and a fire set to a mosque in East Sussex.
In recent years, to counter the rising threat of vehicle-ramming attacks, some churches have redesigned their grounds with curved driveways that prevent a direct line to the front doors, bollards to block cars from jumping curbs, and drop-off zones set back from the building, several experts who work with churches told the Deseret News. Utah’s Krishna Temple installed bullet-resistant coating on windows, installed cameras and expanded the steel fencing across the property following the summer attack.
“Unfortunately in this day and age, just like schools have done over the last few years, churches have to do the same thing — fortify themselves, prepare themselves for how to deal with something like that,” said Brad Burns, a safety manager at Cornerstone Church in Michigan, who also leads West Michigan Church Security Network, a coalition of churches that shares resources for a safe ministry. His church has had a trained safety team for 15 years.
Attacks on houses of worship
The Grand Blanc attack is part of a string of recent assaults on houses of worship — two of them happening in Michigan. This summer, at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, security stopped an armed intruder from entering a congregation.
In Kentucky, a man opened fire inside a church while searching for his wife. In Minneapolis, an armed 23-year-old man shot through the stained glass of the Annunciation Church, killing two children.
Synagogues, too, have also been on high alert, particularly after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which was followed by a surge in antisemitic violence worldwide. The synagogue stabbing in England happened on Oct. 2, when a man drove into a group of worshippers gathered for Yom Kippur before stabbing several people.
According to the Anti-Defamation League report, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose 360% in 2024, with more than 9,000 documented cases of assault, harassment and vandalism.
Christian churches are also facing heightened risk. A report from the Family Research Council, an evangelical nonprofit group, documented 415 hostile acts against U.S. churches in 2024, including vandalism, arson, gun incidents and bomb threats. On average, 35 incidents occurred each month. Although the numbers are lower than in 2023, overall the total amount of incidents is still trending upward compared to previous years.
Is there a ‘safety plan’?
Security experts emphasize there is no one-size-fits-all solution — every building, community and attack are different.
But most agree on a starting point — assembling a safety team to monitor entrances, exits, parking lots and surrounding areas. Because few churches have the budget for professional guards, Burns of Michigan’s Cornerstone Church encourages congregations to train volunteers from within their membership.
After putting the team in place, Burns says, a plan should follow.
“Once you’ve got a team sorted out, you need to put together policies and procedures so your team knows what you’re going to be doing during certain situations,” he said.
Burns recommends a plan for specific areas, especially where children gather.
“Kids’ areas are one of the places I worry about most,” he said, noting that securing classrooms and limiting access can be as important as posting a guard at the front door.
That need has prompted some corporate security companies to expand into church consulting, offering training and tailored safety plans.
Burns himself launched a firm providing armed protection to congregations in West Michigan. Others, like Todd Johnson, a former law enforcement officer and part-time pastor in South Carolina, have designed training that extends beyond active-shooter scenarios to cover medical emergencies and hazardous weather.
“The No. 1 likely occurrence in a church is a medical emergency,” Johnson said. “But very few churches even have a first aid kit on them.”
After the gunshots were fired at Shri Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork in July, the leadership took fortifying measures seriously. In addition to installing a 6-foot fence around the property and bullet-resistant coating on the windows, the temple put up cameras to have a view beyond the fence, additional lamp posts in the parking lots, and plans to hire security, according to Vai Warden, temple’s president and co-founder.
Warden said the team is also hiring security guards.
The temple received a $200,000 federal grant, Warden said, to cover the damage on the building inflicted by gunshots.
“Compared to what happened in Michigan, what happened to us is minimal,” Warden said. “But it’s just so sad that people are attacking places of peace.”
This week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ security department in Salt Lake City sent a letter to stake, district, ward and branch leaders around the world, asking them to review safety procedures and emergency response preparation and directing those leaders to a security resources webpage.
“Our meetinghouses are sacred spaces where all should feel welcome and safe to connect with our Savior Jesus Christ and with each other,” stated the letter.
Balancing openness with vigilance
The tension between enforcing safety measures and creating a welcoming environment is a familiar one for religious leaders and security experts. Some more visible measures, like metal detectors, can undermine what one expert called “the feeling of God’s house.”
“Some of the things that you do to prepare for situations like this sometimes can look a little unwelcoming to churches,” Burns said.
But experts agree that small, strategic and thoughtful changes can preserve warmth while strengthening protection.
“We have to be welcoming,” says Michael Elerick, a former law enforcement officer and president of Public Safety Training LLC, a California-based organization that trains churches on safety across the country. “We want to be absolutely loving at the front door, but we want to be discerning.”
An example of that balance is in “the power of hello,” a welcoming approach that encourages safety team members to engage suspicious visitors in conversation rather than confrontation. Elerick’s training also includes conflict de-escalation, how to form a church safety team, as well as navigating an active shooter scenario.
For Johnson in South Carolina, the simplest adjustment is limiting access once worship begins. After services start, his church doors are locked and discreetly monitored by a member of the safety team.
“Nobody in our church knows who our security team is,” he explained. “You can do it in such a nonintrusive way that people don’t even realize what’s being done.”
Some offer more novel solutions. In Minnesota, former educator Jody Allen Crowe has developed a “shooter suppression” system that expels a chemical irritant in targeted zones, designed to incapacitate attackers. His security company, Crotega, installed the system in a mosque that had received threats, though that project stalled during the pandemic.
“We’re seeing the level of violence and threats of violence increasing,” he said.
The firearms question
The question of whether congregants should be permitted to carry concealed weapons remains a live debate in some communities.
Burns suggests not to rule out the option outright, pointing out that some members already bring law enforcement or military training to the table. Elerick supports a firearm policy that allows only safety team members who have completed annual competency training and meet specific qualifications to carry a weapon.
But many churches, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prohibit firearms on church property, with exceptions for active law enforcement.
Regardless of the policy of individual churches, for Burns, the theological responsibility remains clear.
“Churches have a duty to protect those they bring into their doors, especially children,” he said.
Experts recommend being intentional and proactive about putting in place a safety plan.
“You don’t have to be armed, as long as you have a team looking for threats,” Elerick said.
With the right preparation, he argues, a congregation itself can serve as an “early warning system” and detect threats while simultaneously remaining open and loving towards newcomers.
“As we have an early warning system in place, it limits our members from getting injured and hurt,” he said.
When the community steps in
Some community members, rattled by tragedy, are stepping up advocacy for stronger security measures.
Katie Salazar, a mother of four who lives in Fenton, Michigan, has been advocating to install metal detectors throughout local schools and churches. Her daughter often attends a nondenominational church with friends, and Salazar worries about how little control communities have once an intruder makes it inside.
“Once you get past the metal detector, you’re not going to carry anything if you already know there is a metal detector,” she said.
Shaken by the Grand Blanc attack, she has begun meeting with law enforcement and hopes to speak with faith leaders and the governor. Through a local Facebook group, she is rallying neighbors to press for change.
“It’s really concerning to me that things like that can happen right in your backyard and you feel so powerless,” she said. “You feel like you need to do something to make it a safer place for kids.”
Pastors, too, acknowledge the role of ordinary members in fostering safety.
“While we can’t control all that happens in the world around us,” Ken Nash, pastor of the Cornerstone Church, said in an email, “we can control our response by attempting to de-escalate our personal relationships in our community.”
That response will look different in every congregation, experts say. Some may harden their perimeters. Others may rely on volunteers who are quietly stationed by the door.
The key point, as Elerick put it, is not to remain passive.
“If you’re not doing anything,” he said, “that’s when tragedy happens.”