February 2011 Page 1

February 2011

The Heart Behind the Service When you hear the word ‘insurance’, it is likely that your first thoughts jump to money, loss or just

more paperwork! For most Australian Baptist Insurance Scheme (ABIS) constituents who just

want to get on with the business of serving and ministering to their community, your state insur-

ance officer can help you do just that.

Belonging to your State Baptist Union means your ABIS representative understands the mission of

your organisation and the special circumstances you can encounter. Their heart is to serve and re-

source Baptist organisations whether it be a multi-site Aged Care facility, a K-12 College or even a

Church congregation of six members.

By participating in the Scheme, you are assisting smaller congregations and ministries to operate

with the same security and peace of mind that larger organisations experience. This could not be

achieved without the support and united vision of all our Baptist constituents.

Hall Hirer’s Liability From 30th September 2010, the hall hirer’s liability is now included for a nil premium under the church’s general liability policy. You

can use the below checklist as a guide to know when public liability insurance is required by a hirer or not. However, if in doubt,

please check with your ABIS state office first.

If the following, then no public liability insurance required as this is included under the church insurance:

• Church ministry/ church organised activity/part of church life (Wedding, Funeral ceremony).

If the following, then public liability insurance is now included for a nil premium for hall hirers. You will just need a copy of the booking:

• Private family functions – wedding reception, parties (21st

, 50th

, kids birthdays), baby-shower, funeral reception, private family gath-

ering.

If the following, then the hirer will need to have/organise their own public liability insurance:

• Business/School

• Legal entity

• Organisation with a more formal structure – any organisation that is for profit and/or that is charging fees to people.

(excerpts from Queensland Baptists website (http://www.qb.com.au) from David Loder, QB General Su-

perintendent)

We continue to be shocked by the devastation caused by recent floods but are heartened by reports

of the work our churches and ministers are doing and the prayer offered for those who are affected.

Thank you for your interest, love and concern for your fellow Queenslanders. Many have contacted

us expressing concern for the thousands of people who have been affected. While our physical build-

ings have mostly escaped damage, the enormous spread of the floods means that many communi-

ties are suffering. We can now announce that the QB Flood Appeal has been established.

DONATIONS TO QUEENSLAND BAPTISTS FLOOD APPEAL

Details for the tax deductible fund are as follows:

• Send a cheque made payable to QB Flood Appeal, P.O. Box 6166, Mitchelton Q 4053

• Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Westpac Bank, BSB 704 913, Account No 1741, Account Name QBC Gift Fund, Reference Flood Ap-

peal

If you wish to receive a tax deductible receipt for your EFT donation, please email your name, ad-

dress, amount donated and date of transaction to Elaine.Troyer@qbc.com.au

• Credit Card Donation (Ph 07 3550 3737)

• On line at www.qbc.com.au

Queensland Flood Appeal

In this edition...

Claims Guidelines

4

Church Vandalism

2

Copyright

3

Good News Story

3

February 2011 Page 2

One of the sad facts of today’s society is

that vandalism and damage to people’s

property is very common and unfortu-

nately, the church is not immune.

The church I worked in suffered break-ins

on a number of occasions and various

levels of damage.

Having had a number of insurance claims

dealing with the police and having to give

detailed police reports many months fol-

lowing the incident, it is important for all

churches to consider the procedures for

your church family to follow should they

be confronted with a break-in or an at-

tempted break-in if no one else is on the

church property. This is not meant to be a

scare tactic but merely to create aware-

ness of the process to follow.

Below are some recommended points

that can be reproduced into a flyer and

handed to all church key holders and

church ministry leaders. Please feel free to

use or update for your church situation.

If you notice damage to the church prop-

erty from a break-in or an attempted

break-in, please follow these guidelines:

• Do not touch or enter through the af-

fected door or area - police will ulti-

mately fingerprint this area and you do

not want your fingerprints mixed with

anyone else's - (this is a common mis-

take made - we need to protect the area

from being used).

• Do not enter the building by yourself in

case the offender is still inside. Contact

someone else and have 2 people enter

the building, if it is safe to do so. In

need, contact (name of church contact

person) on (mobile contact number).

• Enter the building through another un-

affected door and check through the

building for damage or anything stolen.

If you are unsure about entering, do not

and phone the Police urgently on 000.

• Obtain photographic evidence if possi-

ble.

• Take note of who was the first to arrive

at the church property and noticed the

damage / break-in and the time - the

police will want these details.

• Work out who was the last to leave the

premises prior to the damage / break-in

happening and the time - the police will

want these details.

• For non urgent crimes or incidents, con-

tact the Police Assistance Line (PAL) on

131444 in NSW, ACT, SA, WA, Tasmania

& NT or (03) 9247 6666 in Victoria, with

the above details available. They will

usually organise for police / police finger

printers to call out.

• Advise insurance company of what has

happened and potential claim – the

church office will usually attend to this.

• Organize repair of damaged area but

need to make sure the police have com-

pletely finished with the area first.

• If the police end up catching the person/

people responsible, those who discov-

ered the damage, and first entered the

property, and made the report will end

up going to police interviews - some

time would usually elapse before this

happens (could be months). Everyone

involved will need to make sure of all

their facts because you need to know

specifics in an interview, regardless of

how long ago it was - that is why it is

best to take note of all details in an inci-

dent report and write them down

straight away.

Tim Williams

Manager, Insurance and Standards

Church Vandalism

ABIS Insurance Panel As there have been quite a few changes in the insurance panel from 30th September 2010, please see below as a sum-

mary of your insurance providers for the period 30 September 2010 to 30 September 2011:

Property Allianz Insurance

Personal Accident (Pastors and Spouses) Accident and Health

Corporate Travel ACE Insurance

Management Liability and Comprehensive Crime Chubb Insurance

Motor Vehicle Vero Insurance - only for those who have received a separate

invoice for this

Personal Accident (Volunteers and Youth) Accident and Health

Liability and Professional Indemnity Vero Insurance

February 2011 Page 3

Earlier last year, I received a frantic

phone call from the Administrator of

Trinity Baptist Church to advise me that

the Church ceiling had unexpectedly

collapsed.

I quickly realised the matter was ex-

tremely serious and how fortunate that

the event had occurred on Saturday and

not Sunday.

The day of the collapse was fine with no

weather conditions to contribute to the

event. My initial thoughts were that

there must have been some form of de-

fect in construction, a wear and tear or

lack of maintenance issue that generally

would be an exclusion under the insur-

ance policy. Hence, the Church may not

be able to claim insurance.

I immediately contacted our insurance

assessor who attended the Church on the

Saturday morning to assist with making

the property safe and ensuring debris

was cleared. The assessor’s role was also

to establish the cause of the collapse and

to determine whether this was an in-

sured event. Due to the extent of de-

struction and damage, this was not possi-

ble at the initial visit by the assessor. A

building consultant subsequently had to

be engaged to help determine the cause

of the collapse.

After several extensive visits of searching

and sifting through the debris, the con-

sultant was able to identify evidence of

rain water ingress into the ceiling space

caused by gutter overflow over a period

of time. This was an insurable event.

The role of an assessor in a claim is im-

portant and beneficial in particular in

such cases. Even if the claim had not

been insurable, an assessor is able to

assist make recommendations and assist

the church with engaging contractors for

repair.

Greg Thomas

Insurance Manager

Baptist Churches of South Australia

Good News Story

Motor Vehicle Windscreen Claims

Most motor vehicle insurers have a nil excess on windscreen damage only claims. However, please check your policy terms and condi-

tions. Here are a few handy steps to assist you in the event of a claim:

• Call your motor vehicle insurer to lodge a claim and obtain a claim number

• Book your car to get the windscreen repaired and quote the claim number

• Usually the invoice for repairs will then get paid directly by your insurer when there is a nil excess.

Motor Vehicle Claims

SMART Repair Centres

For those who have motor vehicle insurance through ABIS

(you will have received a separate invoice for this insurance),

the next time your vehicle is involved in a claim and if:

• The vehicle is driveable and

• There are 3 or less panels damaged

Ask your Vero claims consultant about the SMART Repair

Centre. Vehicle turnaround repair time is generally 3 days.

All you will need to do is book your vehicle in, a cab charge

will be organised for you to return you to your place of work

and your vehicle should be ready to pick-up in 3 days. You

will usually be advised otherwise if this will not be possible

due to parts, etc...

Jean Lim

Insurance Account Executive

Baptist Union of Victoria

February 2011 Page 4

One of our churches recently found it-

self embroiled in a legal challenge over

copyright infringement after its pastor

chose to use a poem as an introduction

to a sermon.

The pastor had become aware of the

poem from a funeral he attended many

years before. The funeral folder did not

give an author or copyright details, and

so the pastor’s sermon simply indicated

that this was an unattributed piece of

prose. Six months after preaching the

sermon, the church placed a transcript

on their web site. The author of the po-

etry, based overseas, had apparently

employed a copyright lawyer to monitor

the internet for unauthorised use of their

works. The quote was discovered, and a

legal letter sent to the church. Immediate

action was taken –the sermon transcript

was removed and a letter of apology

sent, but the legal response continued.

It is important to understand how easily

this situation can arise. The use of the

poem unattributed was a simply error

born of naivety. No attempt at attribu-

tion was made, although attribution

would not have changed the author’s

response but may have tempered the

claim. No harm was meant, and you

could be forgiven for thinking that there

was little gain (particularly of a financial

nature) that could be directly attributed

to the quote. The author’s lawyers took a

different view – that a license fee ought

to have been paid prior to quoting from

the poem, and that it was impossible to

calculate how much benefit had been

obtained through its misuse. Despite

several legal obstacles to a successful

prosecution, the church leadership (after

legal advice) ultimately recognised there

had been something inappropriate done,

and a negotiated settlement would be

better than a protracted legal battle. The

overseas lawyers would not accept any

compromise and ultimately a five figure

sum had to be paid.

The case highlights the dangers associ-

ated with quoting stories, poems, images

and text from sources without attribution

and appropriate recognition of copyright.

This is particularly true when transcripts

of messages are uploaded onto the inter-

net, as on-line search tools are incredibly

sophisticated and powerful. The lessons

from this difficult situation include:

• Know the sources of your quotations

and attribute them properly.

• Investigate whether copyright ap-

plies to a particular work and abide by

the restrictions place by the owners,

even if they appear unfair.

• If an item is copyright you cannot

include it in any published work (even an

online sermon) without written permis-

sion and paying any required fee. Attri-

bution is not enough to remove copyright

infringement.

• If you are producing a transcript of a

message, include footnotes to cover at-

tribution, in more detail than you would

tend to mention in a spoken message.

• Recognise that publishing material

on-line makes it available to a much

greater audience than your circle of con-

tacts.

• If you receive a letter regarding

copyright infringement, take it seriously

and act quickly to minimise the damage

caused. We recommend that you contact

your State Director of Administration as

soon as possible.

Having paid up an entitlement to CCLI (as

most churches do) or even CAL (as some

churches also do) ,does not absolve you

of responsibility to correctly attribute

works, nor do they provide blanket cov-

erage of all copyright issues. These li-

cense are basically to allow you to use

material within your church and to pro-

duce them in any written form for a

wider audience (such as the web).

Phillip McCallum

Director of Administrative Services

Queensland Baptists

Copyright

In the event of any incident that might give rise to an insurance claim, here

are some general guidelines to assist you.

1. All reasonable steps should be taken following an accident or loss to

protect the property or person from any further damage or injury.

2. Any loss by theft and/or wilful or malicious damage should be immedi-

ately reported to the nearest Police station.

3. Take any photos, complete the correct claim form and keep all steps

well documented.

4. Forward claim documentation including any supporting papers to ABIS.

You can contact your nearest ABIS state office at the start, however, if

the office is closed, focus on Steps 1 to 3 and then forward to the ABIS

office once the office is re-open.

Jean Lim

Insurance Account Executive

Baptist Union of Victoria

General Claims Guidelines

Queensland Ken Conwell

New South Wales Tim Williams

South Australia Greg Thomas

Victoria, Tasmania

and Northern

Territory

Jean Lim

Sue Roggero

Western Australia Terry Hicks

For further information or assistance,

the following are your ABIS State Baptist

Union Office contacts:

National Kym Bennetts