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Neighbours want to be ‘Church Watchers’
A survey by YouGov found that 86% of the public would call the police if they saw someone attacking a church. 24% said they would shout or approach thieves.
So, the public want to help us protect our churches.
The Church Watch scheme involves asking a number of people, who live close to your building, to become Church Watchers by keeping an eye out for thieves and alerting the church. 66% of the general public, regardless of whether they are Christian or attend church, would be concerned if their local church fell into disrepair.
40% feel that their local church is an important part of their community’s history and heritage. |
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Step 2 - Watch There are two aspects to this ‘Watch’ section; 1. Church Watch, and 2.Diocesan Metal Theft Alerts. Get these elements right and you could well catch the thieves or deter them.
Church Watch This involves encouraging neighbours, living near to or overlooking your church building, to become ‘Church Watchers’. You identify and ask them to keep an eye on the church and report any suspicious activity. A singe-side A4 explanation leaflet is available to give to your ‘Church Watchers’. There is space on the sheet for you to enter local numbers for them to call. In order to explain the scheme to the congregation and wider community, parish magazine articles and adverts can also be downloaded. |
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Church Watch– what to do: 1. Sign up to receive the regional alerts here. 2. Identify six people who live close enough to your church to make them ideal ‘Church Watchers’ (the identity of the Church Watchers will be known only to the churchwardens). 3. Download and print the guidance sheet for your ‘Church Watchers’. 4. Decide which local people your ‘Church Watchers’ should call and add these details to their guidance sheet. 5. Ask your identified neighbours to become ‘Church Watchers’ giving them the guidance sheet, taking their phone number and email so you can pass on ‘thieves at work in the Diocese’ alerts. 6. Don’t forget to put posters up and use the magazine articles and adverts download them all here. |
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Diocesan Metal Theft Alerts-how it works Once the police, clergy or insurance companies have notified the diocese that thieves have moved into the area the diocese will: 1. Issue a press release asking the media to warn the public that thieves are targeting church buildings and encouraging ‘Church Watchers’. 2. Release a poster to the media which warns that thieves are active and asking people to call specified numbers (this will also be available to parishes via www.BeatMetalTheft.org). 3. Issue warnings to those who should receive alerts and those who have signed up to receive the Beat Metal Theft e-newsletter. 4. Produce, as necessary, an e-newsletter to inform and warn. |
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Church Watch Video Click below to see how Church Watch started and how it works. |
