Why is Church Safety and Security Important?

The Startling Statistics

As we move into the second quarter of the Twenty-First Century, violent attacks on churches are surging. This is a trend that has grown exponentially in the U.S. From 1884-2016 there were seventeen church attacks with at least 4 casualties. That is over 132 year span. From 2017-2025, there were 24 attacks with at least 4 casualties. That is a span of just over eight years. As startling as it is going from one attack about every seven years to three attacks per year, it is even more chilling that during that eight year period, there were eight attacks in the first four years. But in the final four years, there were seventeen attacks. That's more than a 200% increase in the four years between 2021 and 2025!

Massive Attacks on Churches are Prevalent World-Wide

This is not an isolated phenomenon effecting church safety and security only in the United States. Globally, attacks against the safety and security of churches are surging as well. In the last seven years, house of worship attacks in the Congo, Egypt, New Zealand, and Syria have taken the lives of a staggering 435 people. For example, on June 13, 2025, attackers in a coordinated assault, converged on Saint Joseph's Church in Nigeria, killing nearly 200 people. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Catholic Church in the town of Komanda was attacked on June 25, 2025. Gunmen entered the church during evening worship and killed nearly 50 parishioners. On November 19, 2025, gunmen attacked a church in Nigeria, killing two people and abducting twenty five girls from the church's boarding school. Then, on November 21, 2025, over three hundred people were abducted at gunpoint from St. Mary's Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Nigeria's Niger State. Fifty students ages 10-18 managed to escape and as of November 28, 2025, 253 students and 12 teachers are still being held captive.

What Does this Mean for Worshipers?

Attacks on the safety and security of churches is a growing epidemic of death and destruction for worshipers world-wide. The primary reason that the death toll in church attacks in the United States has not been dramatically higher is that the citizens have the right and the ability through the Second Amendment of the Constitution to defend themselves. Even so, the deadly trend is continuing to grow.

If you think your church or house of worship is immune to this, you are kidding yourself and putting your congregations in grave danger.

Don't know where to start, or think your church security may need a comprehensive review? Give Emmaus Defense a call, they can help.