We Share Your Mission.

"In many important places, the want of a suitable place of worship is a chief hindrance to success. In view of this fact, your Board had thought it advisable to begin the creation of a fund to be known as the Church Extension Fund, the principle of which shall be loaned on easy terms to such churches and mission stations as may stand in need of such aid."  Convention Secretary Robert Moffett, General Christian Missionary Convention of 1883.

Since 1883, Church Extension has assisted local Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations in planning, financing, and maintaining facilities to be used as places to engage in the ministry of being and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We continue to live that out in commitments reflected in our new mission statement: "Called by God, Church Extension, together with our investors and partners, offers mission-driven planning and capital-funding services to Disciples of Christ congregations in the context of their culture and stage of life." The ministry of Church Extension does not operate in a vacuum, however. It takes the cooperation of congregations, individual members, regional and general ministry partners to assist in accomplishing this mission. Our primary sources of funds are from Christian people who faithfully entrust dollars to us for the work of Christ's church. Church Extension generates most of its lendable funds from individual and congregational investments made in demand, term and flexible demand investment notes.

Church Extension is a not-for-profit organization.

Like a more conventional lender, we accept investor funds, pay a reasonable rate of interest, and then lend that money to others. That is the simplest explanation of what we do. But beyond the basic comparison, the differences are greater than the similarities.

Church Extension makes loans to churches and church-related organizations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

When you invest in other places, you essentially relinquish control of your dollars. Before your investment is returned to you, your dollars will likely be used in places you might not personally endorse, much less support. A Church Extension account is "an investment with a conscience;" a "mission-driven investment." The churches and organizations using your funds reflect your Christian values.

Church Extension looks for ways to make a loan - not reasons to deny it.

Getting credit is easy when you don't need it. Local banks routinely turn down well-established congregations, not to mention smaller and financially weaker churches. Church Extension has a remarkable history of assistance to these same churches and Christian organizations. We have a heart for ministry.

In short, we exist because of Christian people like you who want to do more with your savings than just earn an interest check. Thousands of Church Extension investors have learned the blessing of building Christ's church while building for their future.

We ask you to share our challenge.

Today, our largest mission field is North America. As a denomination, our goal is to build at least 1,000 churches in North America from 2001 to 2021. At the first New Congregation Establishment Summit, it was suggested that the number should be more like 1,500. This is in addition to the hundreds of churches that will expand or be refurbished and another 1,000 that will be revitalized. Church Extension's challenge is to generate enough investment dollars to enable it to make the loans that will help fuel this growth.

Now we present the same challenge to you and your church. If Church Extension is to grow our lendable funds at a rate equal to our church-wide expansion plans, we must significantly increase the number of individual and congregational investors we have. As members of our church invest their resources at Church Extension, we will be able to help churches meet their ministry goals by providing the finances they need for their building projects. What an opportunity we have to spread the gospel and share our faith!