New security guidance is being sent to every church in the UK
A single public entrance that can be slammed shut against attackers and
personal attack alarms for key personnel are also advised.
Churches in smaller villages are at greater risk of attack, it warned.
Blunt instrument
The advice states: "If someone produces a weapon during a service
(and this will usually be a knife or blunt instrument) then you will need to
get people out of the church. Do not let them just sit there and watch what is
going on.
"They are at risk. It only takes seconds for someone to stab a large
number of people as we have seen in various attacks around the country.
"Think about how you would get the congregation out. This is
especially important in larger churches where the children may be separated
from their parents in a Sunday School."
National
Churchwatch's director, Nick Tolson, said eight clergy had been murdered - all
in knife attacks - since 1996.
He said the
risk of an attack had risen since the murder in July of Father Hamel, who had
his throat cut when two men stormed his church in a suburb of Rouen ,
northern France , during Mass.
"My
experience tells me it won't be a large church or cathedral," he said.
"It'll
be a small church where there's not much around and the police are a long way
away."
The Church
of England said it had not heard of any reported instructions to clergy to wear
regular clothes.
"We do
not know of any instruction or advice for clergy not to wear dog collars,"
said a spokesman.
Christian
leaders have said clergy should never resort to disguise.
The leader
of Coptic Orthodox Christians in the UK
The
Anglican archdeacon of London
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