Think About it 2/1/2026 -- Concerns for Churches in 2026

Resources Think About it 2/1/2026 -- Concerns for Churches in 2026
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Faith Based Security NetworkFaith Based Security Network

Jan 31, 2026

Just like that, the year 2025 is gone. I’d just started getting the year date right on the checks I wrote in 2025. Not only is the year gone, but 25% of the 21’st century is gone. Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago that we were preparing for Y2K? Now we have 30-year olds who don’t even know what that is. They were 5 when it dominated business communications.

What will 2026 look like for faith-based security? What are the most concerning issues?

On 1/17/26, we asked church security operators on a zoom call to respond to a poll of three questions. 53 responded to all 3 questions and 52 responded to 2 of the 3 questions.

The questions were;

What is the main security related issue you are concerned about happening at your church in 2026?
What is the main security concern you see facing the national church community in 2026?
What is the ratio of church size (typical weekly physical attendance at all campuses) to safety / security team size (all team members)?

The top 5 primary concerns for their own churches were (in order of highest concern);

“Disruption During Service” and “Medical Emergency” tied for the 1^st and 2^nd highest concerns
“Domestic Violence” was the 3^rd highest concern
“Active Attacker” and “Mental Crisis” tied for the 4^th and 5^th highest concerns

The top 5 primary concerns they saw in the national arena were (in order of highest concern);

“Disruption During Service” was the highest concern for the church at large across America.
“General Violence” and “Terrorism” tied for the 2^nd and 3^rd highest concerns
“Ministry Reputation” was the 4^th highest concern.
“Active Attacker” was the 5^th highest concern.

The ratio of security operators to church attendees revealed (NOTE: These ratios are consistent with a survey of 800 churches taken 3 years ago)

Less than 3
3 to 5
More than 5

Think About it

The 1^st two questions were not asked as “most likely” but rather “highest concerns.” Disruptions, Medical, Domestic, General Violence, Terrorism, Ministry Reputation, Mental issues and Active Attackers make up the highest concerns for that sampling. This poll was taken the day before the disruption attack at Cities Church in St. Paul, MN. Our members have a pretty good sense of what to be concerned about.

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