An Open Letter to Christian Schools and Churches About Christian School Security After the Annunciation Catholic School Shooting
Protect God’s Children with Wisdom and Hospitality
On August 27, 2025, an armed gunman fired through the windows of Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis during an all school Mass. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed. Seventeen others were injured, including fourteen children, some critically. The shooter ended his own life, leaving behind what law enforcement called an “unthinkable tragedy.”
Parents sent their children to church to worship Christ. Instead, they received them back bloodied. The mayor called out the emptiness of “thoughts and prayers” when, as he said, “these kids were literally praying.”
This is not a political talking point. This is a spiritual wake up call.
Christian schools and churches are sanctuaries, beacons of Christ’s love and hospitality. They are not meant to be soft targets and slaughterhouses. Yet, complacency has left children vulnerable, while flimsy barricades and wishful thinking stand in place of proper preparation.
The Bible is clear: “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished” (Proverbs 27:12, ESV). “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17, ESV). Preparation is not fear, it is obedience.
The Sacred Trust
Parents entrust their children to us. That is a holy responsibility. When children can be slaughtered in prayer, we have failed that trust. To shrug, delay, or minimize is to gamble with lives bought with Christ’s blood.
We must guard our children without extinguishing the warmth of Christian hospitality. We must protect without bankrupting our schools. And we must do it now.
This is not optional. It is stewardship. It is discipleship. It is love.
What Must Be Done
1. Develop Emergency Operation Plans
Every school and church must have a plan tailored to its vulnerabilities. Annunciation’s exposed windows became death traps. I have personally trained many of our clients with this vulnerability to counter this same exact threat. We cannot afford blind spots. Plans must include responses to architectural challenges, lockdowns, evacuations, medical responses, and law enforcement coordination.
2. Train Staff and Students for Crisis
Teachers and staff must know how to lead under fire, de-escalate situations, provide medical aid, respond to first aid, and, where lawful, take defensive action. Students must be trained at their respective levels: calm obedience for the younger ones, situational awareness, and courage for the older ones. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, ESV). Joshua 1:9 must not just be a memory verse; it must be a lived reality.
Training must be comprehensive across the entire community. We cannot rely on a single hero to save us. Every teacher, staff member, volunteer, and age-appropriate student must be equipped with the knowledge and skills so that the burden of response is shared, not placed on a single individual.
3. Conduct Security Assessments
Every entry point, every unlocked door, every weak window is an invitation to the enemy. Schools can often address vulnerabilities with modest upgrades, locks, radios, or film on glass. Grants exist to help cover costs. Stewardship demands we look, assess, and act.
4. Run Tabletop and Live Exercises
If leaders freeze in the first ten seconds, lives are lost. Practicing scenarios builds courage and clarity under pressure. It transforms passive staff into shepherd guardians who protect both hospitality and holiness.
5. Consider Arming Trained Personnel (Where Permitted)
This must be approached soberly, legally, and with rigorous training. But ignoring the possibility is negligence. Scripture does not condemn the shepherd who carries a staff to ward off the wolf.
Speak and Lead Boldly
Leaders, this charge falls first on you. “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Nehemiah 4:14, ESV). Preparedness is not unbelief; it is faith in action. To say “God will protect us” while refusing to prepare is to test Him. To lead well means facing hard truths, rallying the flock, and taking action.
Act Now
The Annunciation massacre must not fade into just another headline. It must burn into our souls.
What is more important than protecting our children? Coffee budgets? Sports programs? Facility upgrades? None of these compares with the sacred duty of safeguarding lives entrusted to us by God. Delay is disobedience. Complacency is complicity.
Start now. Begin today. Assess vulnerabilities, commit to training, and lead your community into action. Build a culture of preparedness that matches your culture of hospitality. Nothing less is worthy of the name Christian. This can be done without losing who you are. In fact, it proves who you are: faithful shepherds who guard the flock while keeping the doors of hospitality open.
No more children should bleed while we pray.
Preparation is obedience. Hospitality and vigilance can and must coexist. The blood of our children demands nothing less.
In Christ’s service,
Jason Perry
Navy SEAL (Ret.) SWAT Officer (Ret.) Paramedic (Ret.)
CEO, Trident Shield
Pastor, Christian Warrior Mission
