Mr. Turner is Risk Manager for the Living Church of God
In one sense, God Himself is the ultimate Risk Manager. In the Statutes and Judgements He prescribes such things as placing a parapet wall around a flat roof to avoid the risk of falling. He says to cover any pit that you dig so that no one falls in it. He also makes us personally liable for injuries to persons or damage to property that we cause, and in His word condemns defamation, libel and slander. In issuing His warning to properly “manage their risks” by doing as He says (in the Law, Statues and Judgements), God told Israel, “I set before you this day Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing, therefore choose Life, that you and your seed may live.”
The 1980s saw churches increasingly engaged in civil and criminal litigation on non-ecclesiastical matters; the American Bar Association now actively sponsors conferences on suing non-profit organizations – including churches. Church members, former members and nonmember interested parties (unconverted parents, spouses and children) represent the majority of plaintiffs.
Litigation is the settlement option of choice at all levels of society in the ‘90s, and churches are just beginning to awaken to the new realities of doing “business” in today’s world. The stakes are high. More than 20 million civil cases alone are filed in the United States each year, with the number expected to double within the next few years – and this does not even consider international litigation Many insurers now actively seek to avoid taking churches as clients because of the risks associated with local activities. Broad immunity from legal liability for church officials, employees and volunteers has long since disappeared. Add such risk-intensive operations as publishing, broadcasting and Internet activity, and matters look even worse to an insurer. In business terms, a local congregational church without viable risk management is viewed badly, and a globe-girdling church with prolific media operations with a viable risk management function could be viewed as an unacceptably high risk. As we have taken steps to manage our risks responsible, our organization’s insurance business is more readily received by fairly prestigious carriers like CIGNA and The Hartford.
In order to address appropriately these and other risk management concerns, leaders at all levels of our fellowship should take seriously the need for preventative care. Preventative care is at the heart of managing our risks.
What the Church is Doing
As part of our ongoing risk management program, the Risk Management office of the Living Church of God, with input from Accounting and Finance, CAD, Legal, Media, Payroll and our commercial insurance brokers, will customarily perform a self-directed risk management audit each year. This audit is significant in identifying and managing the Church’s risk exposures. Since we have diligently adhered to most of the risk-related procedures which we had been working toward putting in place in our former association, we can expect that the results of our upcoming risk audit will be encouraging.
To help you understand what we will be doing, the steps in the risk management process are briefly as follows: investigation, diagnosis, examination, treatment and control. Investigation involves collecting relevant data on the organization by asking many questions. Diagnosis involves the interpretation of collected information in order to properly identify and assess the “risk level” of exposures to accidental loss that may interfere with our organization’s basic objectives. Examination involves analyzing feasible alternative risk management techniques for dealing with these exposures. Treatment refers to the selection and implementation of the best risk management technique in order to reduce each risk. Control is simply monitoring the results of the chosen techniques to ensure that the risk management program remains effective. But for the entire process to be successful there must be a commitment, at all levels, to provide the safest possible environment for the Church, its staff, individual members and guests. As Christians, we all want this anyway.
How You Can Approach Risk
Greater recognition of a church’s risk exposures is the first step in dealing with them—thus this article. Once an exposure is identified, there are several things the Church may choose to do:
Eliminate the exposure byavoiding the activity that creates it. This is impractical for our core activities, but wise advice for activities that seem to be particularly hazardous and that are not central to the Church’s primary mission. For instance, our ministers do not pilot aircraft in the course of their employment because the risks are too great and the Church is not in the aviation business.
Control the exposure throughproperty and vehicle maintenance management programs, driver selection protocols, careful screening of employees and volunteers, close, competent supervision of all activities, creating or modifying legal documents; formulating and promulgating new policies and procedures; organizational restructuring; or modifying field activities. In other words, we can take steps to minimize a risk to make it manageable. Some of these actions may be uncomplicated and easily per-formed. Others may require hard work and sacrifice.
Transfer the financial consequences of the risk exposure to aninsurance company. This may be done in many, but not all, cases, and the Church does so to the best of its ability within the resources allocated.
Accept the exposure “as is.”
This approach is often taken unintentionally in other organizations— with sometimes-disastrous consequences. This option is rightly viewed as generally unacceptable.
Examples of Managing Risk
- To properly insure and protect the legal interests of the Church from a business and insurance standpoint, and also to protect you from being held personally liable for actions taken on behalf of the Church:
“All contracts or written agreements of any kind and leases of any kind are the responsibility and property of the Church: for legal, risk and insurance purposes, their review, modification, proper execution, documentation and maintenance are provided for at our headquarters offices where contract management is centralized. (It’s a headache –just send it in and we will help you with it).” - For the protection of our ministers, and the Church, the following counsel is provided in the Fleet Manual regarding automobile accidents:
“Express no opinion as to who may be at fault in an accident.Give out no information except as required by law enforcement officers. You may, of course, give other drivers the name, phone number and policy number of your vehicle’s insurance company.” - Regarding local activities, the following is stated in the current Risk Policies of the Church:
“ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN THE ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP OF ACTIVITIES need to be aware that it is the policy of the Church to comply with all local, state and federal laws in all areas of operation...” “It is the policy of the Church not to hire-out its employees, volunteers and/or members in the performance of work, which requires professional skills, knowledge or licensing.” - Regarding counseling activities – to protect everyone involved:
“Confidential records (including counseling records) are to be kept in a secure place with access clearly restricted.” - Regarding minors—to protect them, you and the Church:
“Local church leaders should obtain signed medical release forms from parents authorizing the provision of emergency medical services in the event of injury during an activity where the parent will not be present.” “Minors should only be released to their parents, unless written instructions are secured from the parents to do otherwise.”
“An adequate number of responsible adults must be present at youth activities and trips.”
“It is the policy of the Church to follow the ‘two adult rule,’ meaning that no adult, acting during a Church function, or in his her capacity as a Church employee, counselor, minister or volunteer, is to have unaccompanied access to, or care, custody and control of, one or more minors in a non-public setting.”
These policies, designed to minimize risk, serve to protect everyone involved. They are a blessing in dis-guise, since as Christians it is already in our hearts to serve and protect others.
Risk is an essential and challenging part of our daily lives. Prudently addressing and managing the organization’s risk exposures allows the Work to move forward unimpeded, by avoiding the unnecessary and costly delays brought about by unprepared-for risks becoming reality.
We must recognize that change is continuous and certain. How we react to the risks involved deter-mines our economic and emotional survival and future prosperity—both as individuals and as the Church corporate.
Therefore, when properly under-stood, risk management is actually an enabler that should be actively supported, encouraged and participated in on an organization-widebasis.
In our ever-changing world, risk management is a function that needs everyone’s active involvement and support.