What Can I Do to Prevent My Church From Being Sued?`

Q: What can my church do to avoid being sued?

Pastor Tim recently found out that his denomination was being sued for negligence regarding events taking place at the denomination’s children’s camp that left several children injured. The denomination faces a huge financial burden because of the lawsuit. Pastor Tim wants to know how his church can avoid such a fate.

A: Pastor Tim cannot completely eliminate the risk of litigation, but he can lead his church to reduce it by taking several important steps.

Any church can be sued by anybody at any time. However, churches can reduce their risk of being sued, losing in court, and suffering financial setbacks by taking several steps.

Adopt Important Policies

I know most pastors didn’t get into ministry to set policies. However, clearly-written policies serve to provide the framework for how the church carries out its ministries. Several important policies for the church to adopt include:

• Children, Youth, and Volunteer Protection Policy

• Cash Handling Policy

• Pastoral Counseling Policy

• Transportation Policy

• Missions Trip Policy

• Benevolence Policy

• Security Team Policy

These are just a few of the policies a church needs to adopt in order to ensure the appropriate and smooth operation of ministry.

Ongoing Volunteer Training

Once a policy has been adopted by the church, it’s important that the policy is implemented and that staff and volunteers be trained in the policy. Not having a policy is the worst-case scenario, but not following a policy that’s been adopted isn’t much better. As a church board, the leaders must regularly make certain that the policies the Church has adopted are in force and in play so that the church can prevent injuries, protect its assets, and run its ministries effectively.

Obtain Necessary Insurance

Even with all of the policies in place, lawsuits and other incidents can happen—a treasurer can embezzle funds, a person can fall in the balcony, a child can get hurt on a missions trip. That’s when it’s important that the church has the necessary insurance to provide coverage for such circumstances.

The goal of adopting and implementing policies is to reduce the risk of exposure, but a secondary goal of these policies is to demonstrate that the church used reasonable care to prevent such incidents from happening. This exercise of reasonable care can prevent the church from being found negligent in a lawsuit, or mitigate the damages the church could face. Then, the appropriate insurance can pay the claim without financial stress being placed on the church.

Reynolds Law Group has developed a full set of policies and forms for churches called the Church Protection Plan. To purchase or learn more, CLICK HERE. The Church Protection Plan is regularly $397.00, but on sale now for $147.00.