A violent attack at a Bowling Green church is prompting religious leaders in the area to think about ways to prevent similar incidents.
A 21-year-old man was arrested August 14 after stabbing his father during a Sunday morning service at a Warren County church.
Pastor Dave Deerman of Center Pointe Church is this year’s head of the Bowling Green/Warren County Ministerial Fellowship. He says the recent attack at Hillvue Heights Church was bound to happen somewhere.
“For a number of years I have talked to leadership in our church that there’s possibilities, just because of the culture we live in. And churches are, for the most part, very opening to people that we may not know. So you never know, really, who you’re going to encounter.”
Deerman says the ministerial fellowship is talking with the Bowling Green Police Department about possible security protocols that can be established at churches.
“We’re going to bring people who could give us information so that churches could establish a security protocol if that’s what they needed, or if that’s what they wanted. And then the churches that are a part of that can make a decision on how they want to handle that in their churches.”
Deerman says the possibility of violence puts many churches in a dilemma.
On one hand, he says, many places of worship want to be welcoming to strangers. But Deerman also says that also means churches don’t always know who or what they’re going to encounter.