In the medieval in Europe custom was to ring church bells during the thunderstorm. That supposed to send away lightning strike from churches and church objects, which often were high so they attracted the lightning strikes. The sign on churches "Fulgura Frango" means "I break thunders" date from that time.
Often that wasn't successful so we have information that only in France about 1753 and 1786 lightning stroked 386 church towers. Lightning current has killed 103 bellmans. 1786 governments have finally forbidden that attempts.

In 18th century military often used churches for stockpiling military materials. That was very dangerous combination of high risk from lightning strike and explosive padding. That combination often was fatal so when the lightning stroked the church tower of St. Nazaire back in 1769, result was an explosion that killed about 3000 people. However that hasn't stopped that practice so the similar accidents happened even later in history.