Your property is a resource and asset to your church’s mission. No matter the size of your church, managing church property can be a huge task. With proper care and risk management, you can help prevent your facility from becoming a burden. The path to effective property administration begins with scheduling maintenance for your building.
1. Develop a Maintenance Schedule
The easiest way to stay on top of your facility maintenance is to add a maintenance schedule to your general church calendar. At least once a quarter, your ministry should schedule a seasonal maintenance check-up. This could be followed by a church volunteer work/clean-up day. Between the maintenance check and workday, your ministry will identify areas that need repair and be able to perform some general maintenance tasks on the workday. UMIP has four seasonal checklists that could help you get started:
2. Practice Good Record Keeping
After completing your maintenance checks, report back to your ministry leadership team and store the checklists in a secure location. Find a confidential and secure location to keep these and other important property and insurance documents. Notify appropriate staff and personnel of the location and document management protocols. This will help your ministry maintain current records and properly store confidential documents.
3. Examine Facility Use Agreements
Your church building may currently have limited traffic and few requests to use the facility, so now is a great time to review your facility use policies. Your ministry leadership team should begin having conversations about post-COVID-19 facility use practices, especially with external facility use requests. Your ministry should always work to limit the liability risks associated with any facility use. A facility use agreement can help protect your ministry against liability claims. Contacting your annual conference and requesting a review of your facility use agreement can help you ensure that your protocols follow local and state laws as well.
4. Inspect Building Security
Keeping your building secure during an extended period of vacancy can be hard. Whether you have returned to in-person worship or not, church buildings currently do not have the normal amount of traffic flowing through their doors. This could make your facility more attractive to burglars or other malicious attacks. Check all lower-level exterior windows and doors for potential tampering and to ensure the locks function properly.
When you are covered by UMIP, we will be there when you need us. Churches have unique needs. As a part of the denomination, we understand the unique needs of United Methodist churches and their operations, which is reflected in our coverage options. Your ministry deserves outstanding insurance and UMIP works for you each day to help protect your church’s people, property, and finances.
Let's talk! Contact us at 484-654-3380 or at UMI@sovinsurance.com.
This content has been prepared by United Methodist Insurance Company (UMI) for informational purposes only. No article or document may accurately contemplate all possible scenarios or church resources. As such, this information is meant to foster discussion by the individual church and its members to develop a plan tailored to its own circumstances. UMI is providing this information with no warranties or guarantees of any kind and it should not be viewed as legal, financial, or other professional advice. All liability is expressly disclaimed. Any claim examples described herein are general in nature, may or may not be based on actual claims, and are for informational purposes only. Any coverage available for a claim is determined from the facts and circumstances of the claim as well as the terms and conditions of any applicable policy, including any exclusions or deductibles. In the event of a conflict with the content herein, the terms and conditions of any issued policy will control. Individual coverage may vary and may not be available in all states.
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