We need to get to grips with balancing our wish to show church buildings to people and actually making them secure

Sion Brynach, Church in Wales

Some churches have been forced to bolt their doors shut behind worshippers due to a spate of attempted thefts and one church in Swansea has had to hire a security guard to watch over the congregation's cars as visitors pray inside.

But the CTNW does not want to come down so hard on criminals that visitors and members of the flock are not allowed in to their places of worship.

Members of the church community will hear security experts, insurance surveyors and crime prevention officers offer advice on balancing security with making churches accessible.

Holy insurance

Sponsored by the specialist church insurers the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, the meeting at St Paul's Church Hall in Llandudno, is followed by another gathering at the United Reformed Church in Cardiff on 6 September.

They will also see a video called Faith Secured, produced by the Home Office and Churchwatch - the ecclesiastical version of the Neighbourhood Watch.

Sion Brynach of the Church in Wales said: "We need to get to grips with balancing our wish to show church buildings to people and actually making them secure.

"Recently, a burglar broke into one of church collection boxes at Bangor Cathedral and stole cash for candles, and another sawed through a padlock."

He said incidents of crime on church premises were rising but research for the Church in Wales has shown more members of the public want to drop in to the church buildings.

Church attendance figures in Wales have already fallen by around half since the 1980s and religious leaders do not want to lock out potential worshippers.

John Winton of the CTNW said: "It is vitally important that we don't fall into the trap of failing to see our church buildings as signposts of Christ's Gospel as opposed to chapters in an architectural handbook.

"The builders of these buildings wanted them to be a reflection of God's glory and a means for people to develop a greater spiritual awareness.

"In order to do this, Churches Tourism Network Wales is keen to develop a greater open door policy for church buildings in Wales and to encourage the ministry of Wales's churches to visitors and pilgrims."