SAMPLE

SECURITY GUIDELINES

Basic Guidelines

  1. Do not post information about missionaries in this region on any website. Terrorists use Google.
  2. Share specific names and places ONLY with those who MUST know them.
  3. Assume email (and postal and telephone communication) is monitored and use secure email when possible or communicate via a secure third party.
  4. Adopt an “alias” or friendly “nickname” for the various people groups.
  5. In print and in public, maintain a clear separation between identity (who) and work (missions). If you are sharing about the work don’t use names. If you are sharing about the workers don’t give locations or specifics about their ministry strategy.
  6. Respect, pray for, and protect differing ministries and methods.
  7. Be sensitive to security issues when sharing information learned in person-to-person contacts, at conferences, or via email or other communication.

What needs protecting?

  1. Protect any information someone else asks you to protect.
  2. Protect names of national believers and especially leaders. The names, addresses, and pictures of workers involved in outreach activities must NEVER be given out indiscriminately NOR ever published in any materials for widespread distribution including prayer letters, church bulletins, short-term visit reports, phone directories, web sites, or “mass emails.”
  3. Protect names and details concerning expatriate workers. While their risk is usually lower, they risk expulsion or increased scrutiny due to security mistakes. Err on the side of caution.
  4. Protect ministry details, such as a) locations of ministries, and b) specific ministry strategies. More details can be shared in small, face to face meetings if the session is not recorded and you know all those in attendance.

Secure Communication

  1. Assume that postal mail is usually opened and phones (esp. cell phones) are often tapped.
  2. Internet email is only as secure as sending a post-card. Enquire about various options for secure email. Be careful of mass emails. Many people will forward your email, so do NOT put more info in one email than is necessary. Hide recipients’ names by blind copying (using the BCC: instead of TO: field).
  3. Printed matter has a life of its own. You can't control where it goes or how long it exists, so be very cautious in what you print or record in computers, CDs, or video.

The Security Question: Secret or Safer?

Concerned believers want to know basic information. We want them to know it. They desire to support ministry in a multitude of ways. We need their prayers and encouragement. Sometimes these good goals can only partially be met due to the very real risks of damaging ministries or worse, bringing harm to local believers by sharing too many details. Information you share must be thoughtfully limited on a need-to-know basis, not to establish power by holding secrets but to serve others in a safer way.

However, withholding information must not hinder cooperation and partnership. Field ministries must establish trustworthy conduits of communication. Support ministries must learn to trust field personnel to make security decisions, and be satisfied at times with incomplete information. The attitude should not be, “How much can I learn about everything and everyone” but rather, “How much do I really need to know in order to obey Christ and serve His disciples living in danger?” The goal is not perfect security but reduced risks by serving wisely.

Adapted from one network’s partnership document.