Texas churches are recognizing and thinking more about church security these days. In the last several years, many churches have created volunteer safety teams, developed emergency procedures, and trained members to respond if someone threatens the congregation. For churches with armed volunteers, it is important to understand how both the law and their church’s insurance coverage protects them from liability. While Texas law provides some important protections, it does not eliminate every single financial risk.
This is where Texas church leaders often misunderstand the scope of Senate Bill 694.
SB 694 can provide civil immunity in certain situations involving volunteer church security teams. But immunity from damages does not necessarily stop someone from filing a lawsuit. The church will still need to hire attorneys, respond to the claim, and spend significant money proving that the law protects its actions.
The key takeaway is that Texas churches still need liability insurance coverage for their armed volunteer church security teams despite Senate Bill 649’s offer of civil immunity.
Imagine that members of a church's volunteer security team respond to an armed threat during a Sunday service. The volunteers act quickly, follow their training, and stop the attacker before anyone in the congregation is seriously harmed. Law enforcement investigates the incident and ultimately determines that the security volunteers acted appropriately.
But during the response, a bystander suffers an injury.
That person later files a negligence lawsuit against the church and the volunteers involved. The church’s leaders believe that Texas law protects them, and their attorneys agree. After months of legal proceedings, the court determines that the church qualifies for civil immunity and dismisses the case. Even though the church won the case and didn’t face a settlement or judgement, the attorneys still expect to be paid.
If the church’s general liability policy contains a firearms exclusion, the insurance company will deny the claim. And the church could be left with a 6-figure bill to pay.
Texas Senate Bill 694 gives religious organizations and certain unpaid volunteer security members civil immunity from damages when responding to an active shooter or another imminent threat of serious bodily injury.
Passed to protect faith communities, Texas Senate Bill 694 grants civil immunity from damages involving volunteers and the churches they protect when responding to an active shooter or an imminent threat of serious bodily injury. This law works in tandem with SB 535, which clarifies that a handgun license holder can legally carry inside a church. This is provided the church hasn't explicitly banned firearms on their property under Texas Penal Code sections 30.06 and 30.07 via specific signage requirements.
Here is the harsh reality: immunity from liability is not the same thing as immunity from a lawsuit. Anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason. The text of Texas Senate Bill 694 will ultimately protect your church from having to pay a multi-million dollar cash judgment, but it cannot prevent a plaintiff's attorney from dragging you into court. Your church must still hire an attorney, file motions, respond to discovery, and show up at hearings to prove to a judge that you qualify for that immunity.
Immunity is the final destination, not the journey. You still have to pay your way through the expensive trial process to get there.
When evaluating your institutional liability risks, your church must also navigate the state laws regarding private security. Rightly so, there is a high level of scrutiny around armed security and gun regulation all across the United States.
Fortunately, the Texas Attorney General's Office clarified how the Private Security Act (chapter 1702 of the Texas Occupations Code) applies to churches. The state confirmed that church security teams composed entirely of unpaid volunteers do not have to register as licensed private security firms. Your ministry does not need a state-issued letter of authority to deploy an internal security plan, provided your security team members are not being compensated for their security services.
However, just because the state doesn't require you to hold a commercial license doesn't mean your insurance carrier feels the same way. If your agent hasn't explicitly reviewed these safety laws with you, your policy is likely riddled with gaps.
A robust liability policy is essential to pay for the legal defense costs that Texas Senate Bill 694 does not cover for religious organizations. Your church isn't just buying insurance for a potential settlement. You are buying it to fund the fight, even though you have civil immunity in these cases.
This is where a catastrophic failure occurs for Texas churches. Church leaders believe that since they will win the legal argument in court, they are covered. They think that either they don’t need liability insurance protection or that the church’s general liability policy will cover them. They fail to check the specifics of their policy or inform their church’s insurance agent that they have armed volunteers in the first place.
This leads to the unfortunate reality that even with the law on your side, your church could still face massive out-of-pocket expenses for legal defense.
These exclusions are common in general liability policies, especially if your agent doesn’t know that you have armed volunteers. Church general liability insurance is designed to cover slips and falls, not the complex liabilities of armed volunteer security. Don’t assume that just because your church has a policy, it means that it will cover an incident involving a firearm.
As a church leader, you cannot simply assume you are covered. You cannot rely on a law to protect you from financial reality. You have to become a steward of your risk, and that means asking hard questions about your insurance policy before a crisis hits. You need to sit down with your agent and find the exact language in your policy.
Does your policy have a firearms exclusion? Does it specifically cover the actions of armed or unarmed volunteers on a security team? Does it provide duty to defend, meaning the insurance company provides and pays for the lawyers from day one? And critically, are defense costs paid inside or outside the limits of your policy?
Don’t learn an expensive lesson after the fact.
Even if your Texas church does the right thing by setting up a security team, training them and having security protocols in place, you still need to make your church insurance agent aware of your plans. Your volunteers’ actions may be protected by state law, but your church could still face an expensive civil lawsuit. Don’t let a simple exclusion in an insurance policy create a financial crisis that can be completely avoided by having one conversation.
Don't put your church’s mission at risk. The peace of mind you're seeking doesn't come from a generic insurance policy or a misunderstanding of the law. It comes from having a church insurance expert review your real-world risks and design coverage that offers real protection.
At Insurance For Texans, we have helped hundreds of Texas churches just like yours to navigate these complex issues every day. We believe your budget should be used for forwarding your church's mission, not for funding unexpected legal battles. Through our True Texas Church Insurance program, we help you to identify the risks that are specific to your church. We start by asking questions instead of just offering generic quotes.
Click the button below to schedule a review of your current coverage with one of our church insurance experts.