“The question being lost in today’s risk management is: what are we willing to lose for the sake of the gospel?” Hutchinson said.

For Travis Hutchinson, the life of a pastor in a small-town Georgia church is about preaching the gospel, ministering to the needy and, increasingly, figuring out how to handle an ever-growing list of risks.

Some new risks are real and demand vigilance, says Hutchinson, pastor of Highlands Presbyterian Church (PCA) in LaFayette, Ga. For example, conducting a criminal background check on everyone who works with children has become a necessity.
Other risks are more remote, he says. Still, vendors stoke anxiety about everything from shooting sprees to federal audits.

“I get lots and lots of stuff that just seems like fear mongering, and apparently that’s taken hold in some places,” says Hutchinson. “One of the things we have to do as a congregation is ask ourselves: How much of our time is (risk management) eating up? And how much time are we spending doing what God wants us to do?”

In the ministry trenches, pastors are sometimes working out principles to help them distinguish between risks to mitigate and risks worth taking. Hutchinson asks: Does taking a particular risk help the church advance the gospel or not?

Foregoing background checks on longtime Sunday school teachers wouldn’t serve a lofty purpose and might in fact lead to shameful tragedies, Hutchinson says. Hence Highlands Presbyterian opts not to take that risk. But the congregation does offer worship space and humanitarian aid to immigrants, whether they’re legal citizens or not.

Highland elders have taken heat for such displays of hospitality; one elder had a brick thrown through a window at his home. But they keep taking such risks, Hutchinson says, because they believe sometimes people must suffer for their gospel witness.

“The question being lost in today’s risk management is: what are we willing to lose for the sake of the gospel?” Hutchinson said.

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