Crisis Communications for Churches + Schools

What Should We Do in the First Hours of a Crisis?

In the first hours, make people safe, meet your legal and reporting obligations, gather a small team, establish the facts, choose one spokesperson, tell your own community first and then issue a short holding statement. In order:

Make people safe. If anyone is in danger, call 911. Care for the people affected comes before any statement.
Meet your legal and reporting obligations. Allegations involving minors may trigger mandatory reporting laws in your state. Follow them and your own policies. Call your attorney and notify your insurance carrier.
Gather a small crisis team. Include the senior leader, the person with final decision authority, legal counsel, your communications lead and the person closest to the facts. Keep the group small.
Write down the facts. List what you know, what you do not know and when you expect to know more. Update the list as facts change, and do not guess.
Choose one spokesperson. Tell staff, volunteers and leaders to refer questions from media and the public to that person.
Tell your own people first. Families, staff, members, students and board members should hear from you before they read about it online. Write a separate message for each group.
Issue a short holding statement. Acknowledge what happened in plain terms, express care for anyone affected, say what you are doing and say when you will update.
Watch what is being said. Monitor news, social media and search results, and log every media inquiry.
Keep a record. Note decisions, timing and who was told what.
Set the next update time and keep it. On-time updates build trust while facts are still coming in.

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What Should We Avoid in the First Hours?

Silence that lasts for hours while others fill the gap.
Speculating, assigning blame or saying "no comment."
Several leaders speaking on their own.
Releasing names or details that belong to victims, minors or families.
Defending the institution before acknowledging the people affected.
Deleting posts or comments in a way that looks like hiding information.
Posting publicly before telling your own community.

Is Our Organization Ready? A Crisis Readiness Checklist

A written crisis plan, reviewed in the past 12 months
A named crisis team, with backups and after-hours contact information
A designated spokesperson and backup, both media trained
Escalation rules for who decides what counts as a crisis and who gets called, in what order
Current contact lists for staff, families, members and board, reachable by text and email
Contact information for legal counsel and your insurance carrier, plus a clear understanding of what your policy covers
Documented mandatory reporting procedures, with staff trained on them
Pre-approved holding statement templates for your most likely scenarios
The ability to update your website and social channels quickly, with logins held by more than one person
Ongoing monitoring of your organization's name online
A social media policy for staff and volunteers
A tabletop exercise or crisis simulation in the past year
Outside crisis counsel identified before you need it

Guardian helps organizations close these gaps through vulnerability assessments, crisis plans, staff training, spokesperson training and crisis simulations. See crisis communications services.

When Should We Call Outside Crisis Counsel?

Call outside crisis communications counsel as soon as an issue could become public and damage trust, ideally before you release any statement. Call right away when:

There is an allegation of abuse or misconduct, especially involving minors or a senior leader.
Someone has died or been seriously injured on your property or at your program.
Law enforcement, a lawsuit or a regulatory inquiry is involved.
There are questions about how money has been handled.
A reporter has called.
A post about your organization is spreading on social media.
Your senior leader is personally involved or too close to lead the response.
The board, staff, families and the public each need a different message at the same time.

Legal counsel and crisis communications counsel do different jobs and should work together from the start. Your attorney manages legal risk. Communications counsel protects trust with the people you serve. A sound response accounts for both.

How Does a Reactive Crisis Retainer Work?

A reactive crisis retainer keeps Guardian ready for your organization, so experienced help is a message away when a crisis, a hard question or an emerging issue arrives. Guardian does no proactive communications work under a reactive retainer. The retainer covers three things:

Readiness. Guardian learns your organization, leaders and history before anything happens, so a response can start immediately.
Monitoring. Guardian monitors your brand online, including news, social media and search.
Reporting. You receive monthly reports on what is being said about your organization.

When you reach out with a crisis, a sensitive question or an issue you want to get ahead of, Guardian provides counsel and response, and that crisis work is covered by the retainer. Proactive work, such as a crisis plan, staff training or media relations, is scoped separately.

A reactive retainer fits churches, Christian schools, colleges and camps that face real risk but do not need ongoing communications support. Larger organizations on Guardian's brand and awareness retainers have crisis support through their account team.

What If We Do Not Have a Retainer?

Reach out anyway. As capacity allows, Guardian takes on organizations in the middle of a crisis. Some of those organizations later choose a reactive retainer so they are ready for the next one.

Who Is Guardian?

Guardian is an Atlanta-based strategic communications agency serving faith-based organizations. Its team of 12 brings more than 175 years of collective experience and has served more than 30 clients today and more than 70 since its founding, including churches, Christian schools, colleges and camps.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a church do in the first hours of a crisis?

A church should first make people safe, then meet its legal and mandatory reporting obligations, then gather a small crisis team and write down the known facts. Next, it should choose one spokesperson, tell its own members and staff before the public and issue a short holding statement with a time for the next update. It should avoid speculation, blame and "no comment."

What should a holding statement say?

A holding statement should acknowledge what happened in plain terms, express care for anyone affected, say what the organization is doing and say when it will share more. It should be short and limited to confirmed facts. It should not speculate, assign blame or release names or details that belong to victims, minors or families.

When should a Christian school or church call a crisis communications firm?

Call a crisis communications firm as soon as an issue could become public and damage trust, ideally before releasing any statement. Clear triggers include allegations of abuse or misconduct, a death or serious injury, law enforcement or legal action, financial questions, a reporter's call or a social media post that is spreading. Having counsel identified before a crisis saves critical hours.

What is a reactive crisis retainer?

A reactive crisis retainer keeps a crisis communications firm ready to respond for an organization without any proactive communications work. Under Guardian's reactive retainer, Guardian stays ready, monitors the organization's brand online and provides reports. When a crisis, hard question or emerging issue arrives, the organization reaches out and Guardian responds.

Does Guardian help churches and schools that do not have a retainer?

Yes, as capacity allows. Guardian takes on organizations in the middle of a crisis. Some of those organizations later move to a reactive retainer.

What is the difference between legal counsel and crisis communications counsel?

Legal counsel manages legal risk, and crisis communications counsel protects trust with the people an organization serves. The two do different jobs and should work together from the first hours of a crisis. A sound response accounts for both.

Facing a crisis or want to be ready for one? Contact Guardian.