Case Study: Christ United Methodist Church achieves real-time safety and streamlined volunteer training with Brightly Software

Christ Church Leverages Dude Solutions’ Safety Center for Safety and More

Christ Church, a rapidly growing congregation in Fairfax Station, Virginia, faced major safety and training challenges after moving into a 50,000 sq. ft. facility on a 25‑acre campus. Leadership worried that security policies and emergency plans would remain inaccessible—“in a binder on somebody’s shelf”—and that volunteers and staff wouldn’t receive consistent, just-in-time guidance for their roles.

To solve this, Christ Church implemented Dude Solutions’ Safety Center, creating a customized Staff App and an iServe volunteer app to deliver safety plans, maps, procedures and training directly to smartphones. The apps enabled real-time communication, streamlined volunteer onboarding and training, integrated cameras and emergency protocols, and allowed rapid updates (e.g., communion flow or active-shooter drills). As a result, the church achieved more consistent, efficient safety management and smoother adaptation to continued growth, with additional apps for hypothermia shelters and child safety in development.

Christ United Methodist Church

Debra Merrill

Executive Director