Risk management begins with awareness, and awareness with knowledge. A culture of risk management in any group consists of people who share the knowledge that we live in a world in which bad things happen. Some of the bad things we have control over, but others are outside our control. We must be aware of that, decide how we're going to prepare for it, prevent it (if possible), and manage what we cannot prevent. Ultimately, we need to know what we're going to do if the worst happens.
It's remarkable that when you go into a church and you suggest, “Hey, do you think that's a safe thing to do?” You can see on faces that they've never thought about it. “Oh, I guess that probably isn't the best idea.” Ultimately, everybody's responsible. This awareness and responsibility are the expression of basic Christian love—care.A culture of risk management is one in which people in positions of leadership share this awareness with their community and inspire responsible action. This is how we influence our community to become good stewards.
The Biblical Essence of Risk Management
The biblical essence of risk management is stewardship. Stewardship is a word that we have relegated to giving money. In its real and broader sense, stewardship is trust. God entrusts us with our ministries, our assets, and our people. There's a story in the Bible of a fellow that received a certain amount of money. He was so afraid of losing it that he buried it. His master criticized him for not investing it. We have assets and resources in ministry, including buildings, finances, and people. We must invest those things. We are called to put them into the stream of risk and commerce—ideological, spiritual—commerce. We must do this with a wisdom and awareness.Jesus talks about being entrusted with something, and that's the essence of risk management. In this view, you wouldn't take the church's funds and go spend them for a parasol so you can walk down the beach. That's not what God's money is for. In the same way, you wouldn't want to endanger people at your church. Those people are precious to God who entrusts us to influence them for the kingdom. When God favors us, he entrusts His Kingdom to us. He trusts to be his ambassadors to represent Him to His people.
2024: A Year in Review
In 2024, Adventist Risk Management, Inc. had an unprecedented opportunity to meet with pastors and laypeople to influence them in awareness and preparing them to deal with risk. We were privileged to address over 200 lay people who are treasurers, risk managers. and safety officers of local churches. We were able to train, to suggest, to cajole, to tell stories, and to “infect” them with the culture of risk awareness. It was exciting to hear them get excited about how loss control and risk influence can improve the way they do ministry at their local church. This is risk management effecting positive change at the most basic levels of ministry.One of the things that we did for the first time this last year is to give grants for camps to mitigate the wildfire risk. They are making improvements that will make it harder for a wildfire to destroy their camp. These improvements include removing underbrush and clearing areas so that potential wildfires will have no fuel. In insurance, we call these improvements mitigation methods and they are a critical part of risk management culture.
The Year Ahead
On the property side there, there is always going to be bad weather. We need to make sure our properties are maintained and prepared for weather-related events, including lightning, wind, hail, and excessive rain. All of these can cause property damage. Poor physical security also presents risks. For example, as a pastor, I once had a church that was left unlocked about half the time. Procedures can provide protection against many maintenance shortcomings.The other side of maintenance is activities like church work bees and other opportunities where church members undertake tasks that are outside their skillset and ability (climbing ladders, being on roofs, being in attics, cutting down trees are constant sources of catastrophic injuries). These tasks carry much higher risk than most members are aware of. And they won't realize it unless we help them to be aware. For example, members should know that running lines and wires through attics with drop ceiling should be done by electricians, and repairing roofs should be done by qualified roofers.
On the casualty side, basic caution requires we perform background checks on volunteers who work with children. We also must make sure that no one is ever put into a situation of being alone with a child and that we supervise the children and young people, when they are together. Another risk that's significant for our churches on the casualty side is transportation safety. Who are we putting church members in a car, truck, or van with? Are those people safe, competent drivers? Do we trust them?
