News Detail
Innovative Financing provides larger loans for church
Church Extension partners with commercial bank to provide new service.
by: Tonya Woodward Ellis
Innovative financing provides larger loans for churches.
Church Extension partners with commercial bank to provide new service.
(Indianapolis, IN) In a move declared “cleverly innovative” by some observers, Church
Extension, a general unit of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has developed a
program by which it may make larger loans than ever before to congregations.
“Our existing loan limits are fine for meeting the needs of the vast majority of our
congregations,” reports Rick Reisinger, treasurer. “However, with the cost of building
today, and in the cases of a few of the larger congregations in our denomination, we
needed a way to make loans that were significantly larger than our assets or our current
loan policies allowed. This program is one answer to that, without placing our
organization or our investors at undue risk.”
The program, which partners Church Extension and the congregation with Fifth Third
Bank, Central Indiana, uses funds obtained through bank sources and Church Extension
funds to provide financing that may be as much as several million dollars.
The first loans under this program have been approved for Ray of Hope Christian Church
in Decatur, Georgia, and New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
Church Extension officials report that more loans are under consideration.