Seeing the blackened, charred remains of your beloved church or school might seem like Judgement Day has arrived, but trust us, while it is heartbreaking it’s not the end of the world either. Here are 4 reasons why…

1. You’re covered.

But first, the bad news…property damaged by fire is a shocking, confronting and emotionally devastating event that leaves behind grief and a sense of helplessness amongst those it affects. These intangible yet very real and painful effects of fire damage are not things that RMS can fix, sadly. Our key role in these situations is to lesson the financial burden of loss events such as fire.

Now the better news…as long as your church entity’s faithful, annual contribution toward Property Cover is up to date then that cover can step in to financially support the rebuild and/or repair. In addition, RMS can help coordinate assessors and ensure the right payments at the right time. Not sure if your church organisation is covered? It is important you talk to us ASAP because we would hate if something happened and your church organization was not covered. Can you imagine?!

2. Important lessons learnt, albeit the hard way.

RMS can help church organisation’s identify ways to ‘target harden’ the property against further or future loss. Implementing procedures like securing waste bins after hours and regular testing of electrical equipment, or installing CCTV and smoke alarms are often not thought about for fire prevention but can have great effect for very little financial outlay. Seriously though, you should not wait for a fire to learn about fire prevention… Read more about protecting church property from fire (one page PDF download.)

3. A blessing in disguise?*

Driving past the burnt remains of your church or school every day for a whole year would no doubt be disheartening and the impact to the community, immeasurable, so it certainly seems strange to refer to such a thing as a ‘blessing’. The saying goes, “time heals all wounds” and with the case of fire a very long time. As disastrous as a fire is, and as long as no one was hurt, there is hope in new beginnings to bless the church and the community but it really does take time and things don’t always move as quickly as one might hope.

Just ask the good people of Tamworth Church about patience and hope. That church sustained substantial damage from a devastating accidental fire in 2013 and after a two-year rebuilding effort will celebrate their re-opening this July. Read the full story on the Northern Daily Leader’s news site.

“As believers, we know that God can bring good outcomes in bad circumstances,” states Jonathan Hale, RMS Assistant Manager and overseer of all Church related losses. “We are thrilled that Tamworth Church is back to business – they did all the hard, back-breaking work and we are pleased we could assist in some way.”

4. Reinvigorated for Mission.

We described Tamworth as getting back to “business” but what we really mean is “mission”. That’s what we’re all here for, doing God’s work on earth – the Mission of the Church. We’re here to deliver God’s message of hope and we know that when our people are displaced from their homes, sanctuaries, schools, hospitals – even for a day – the desire to get back to mission is stronger than before.

So take heart…we see evidence every day that the impact of fire – or any loss event – is disruptive to business and, on occasion, traumatic to the community but it is not the end of the world for Church organisations, especially when property cover is in place and the church demonstrates faith that God will rebuild and restore.

(*We shouldn’t have to say this because it is obvious, but there is never a good reason to deliberately burn or destroy church property. Ever. Attempting to claim insurance on one’s deliberate destruction of church-owned property is illegal, fraudulent and against our Christian values.)