Several years ago two of us were asked to build a security team for our church (~400 member congregation). Actually, it was "medical and safety", since perceived "threats" ranged from falls, allergic reactions, heart attacks, lost children, fires, physical confrontations, and then over time, active shooter situations. We contacted local fire marshal, police captain, and head of EMS, who all met with us and provided a wealth of knowledge and guidance.....never any specific directions, but great insight. Ultimately several FBI members volunteered and worked with us during subsequent training within the church - amazing value to hear their experiences and recommendations.
While initial training was on medical and "open hand" means to defuse situations... over time, like you, we recognized the value of identifying who is likely to be CC, and making sure they knew of each other (for obvious reasons). To hopefully mitigate risk, CC is not specifically encouraged by the team or our church, but we do accommodate and leverage the individual decisions for CC that some members make. If threat exists, it's great to know someone has your back, and to recognize the faces of other like minded members.
I'd suggest leveraging any of your churches contacts with local law enforcement leadership, local firearms trainers, even an attorney, as a starting point. In our case, we've had offers for free martial art and defensive firearm training for the team, but passed. For small and mid-size churches, my sense is it's challenging to pull off fully sanctioned support for CC, and therefore we settled on something less than that, but seemingly workable in our environment. PM me if helpful to discuss.
