Having Wi-Fi in the Church is a blessing. However, it can also be a resource to hackers. Should the Church provide Wi-Fi service at no charge to any and all who happen by? Some would say “Yes.” Others would be concerned about the security implications: What if the Church got hacked?

There are ways to secure the network in the Church behind a strong firewall. There should be a private network that only the staff uses that is rock solid and secure. If the staff needs access from home, then they should use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the office. This technology is well proven in the business world. The Church can make use of it, also.

Mobile phones can be allowed access to the local Wi-Fi hotspot in the Church building. But they should be only allowed to access the Internet outside the Church building. The private, staff network would be kept private. This does present a challenge for the Church’s bandwidth. (What if half the people in worship pull out their smart phones and go get the same scripture off BibleGateway.com during the sermon?) Perhaps that should be tested to see if it would work. Perhaps it is a good idea. However, most people have the Scriptures on their phone already in their favorite translation.