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Pension Fund of the Christian Church

Employer-Sponsored Retirement Products

Overview

As a church plan, Pension Fund is able to offer flexible and worry-free retirement options for employers and their employees. Our team of Area Directors will meet with you to discuss your needs and help you get started.

Individual Savings & Retirement Products

Overview

Whether you’re just starting out or closer to retirement, choose from a variety of products to help you reach your retirement and savings goals.

Program Applicants

Ministerial Relief & Assistance

Our relief programs meet the evolving needs of new, active, and retired clergy and their families to ensure all ministers and lay workers can enjoy a strong, smart, secure retirement.

Supporters & Donors

Make An Impact with a Donation

Your gifts and financial support helps ministry workers in need bridge the unexpected from now until retirement (and beyond).

Resources

Overview

Discover planning and educational tools & resources to help you navigate your financial wellness journey.

For Members & Clergy

For Members

Guides, factsheets and resources to aid you on the Road to Financial Wellness.

For Clergy

Clergy-specific resources to support your call to ministry.

For Employers

For Employers

Hiring tip sheets, tax guides and more to help you manage your employees' benefits.

Your Money Line

Pension Fund has partnered with Pete the Planner® to provide members with access to financial guides who will help answer your tough financial questions & online tools such as calculators and eLearning courses.

Stay Connected

News & Publications

Events

The Gathering 2024

Save the date for the next Gathering. We will be in Washington D.C. Sept 3-5.

Employer-Sponsored Retirement Products

Overview

As a church plan, Pension Fund is able to offer flexible and worry-free retirement options for employers and their employees. Our team of Area Directors will meet with you to discuss your needs and help you get started.

Individual Savings & Retirement Products

Overview

Whether you’re just starting out or closer to retirement, choose from a variety of products to help you reach your retirement and savings goals.

Program Applicants

Ministerial Relief & Assistance

Our relief programs meet the evolving needs of new, active, and retired clergy and their families to ensure all ministers and lay workers can enjoy a strong, smart, secure retirement.

Supporters & Donors

Make An Impact with a Donation

Your gifts and financial support helps ministry workers in need bridge the unexpected from now until retirement (and beyond).

Resources

Overview

Discover planning and educational tools & resources to help you navigate your financial wellness journey.

Your Money Line

Pension Fund has partnered with Pete the Planner® to provide members with access to financial guides who will help answer your tough financial questions & online tools such as calculators and eLearning courses.

Excellence in Ministry

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Helping pastors remain and be more effective in ministry.

The Excellence in Ministry (EIM) program is helping reduce financial pressures that impede our pastors’ ability to serve effectively. EIM is part of Lilly Endowment, Inc.’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders. (Read more about the Endowment’s Initiatives here.)

Through EIM, pastors in their first five years of ministry are:
  • Discovering they are not alone in their search for financial security. Many pastors suffer in silent shame about the amount of debt they carry and their inability to handle financial emergencies. EIM is helping lift the veil of silence for pastors and helping build their confidence.
  • Gaining critical tools to bring financial freedom to their home. Together with their spouses (if applicable), EIM pastors have access to top-rate personal financial education and coaching, helping them make informed decisions on their way to long-term financial wellness
  • Providing more informed financial leadership to their congregations. EIM pastors are finding their voice in matters of money and faith and preaching more boldly about generosity, leading their churches to live more generous lives.
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What Our EIM Participants Are Saying:

“This program has been a critical component of our financial well-being over the last two years and has encouraged my spouse and I to be more financially informed while providing needed relief from the stresses of our indebtedness.”

- Rev. Kevin Howe (Tulsa, OK)

“My spouse and I have had budget meetings that allow us to set goals and evaluate our habits and progress. As a result of the grant money given to us, we were able to pay off a big medical bill and eliminate a significant monthly expense. We can now make that money work for us by placing it in our Benefit Accumulation Account with the Pension Fund."

- Rev. Melissa Guthrie Loy (Greensboro, NC)

"I used to think I was the only minister who felt stress about money. Now I know I'm not alone, and I have people I can talk to."

- EIM Participant

How it Works

For 2023, Pension Fund is meeting with leaders of the church to look at the future of what EIM will bring and how we can holistically equip pastors and support them in ministry. While we conduct this important work, we are pausing on accepting new applications for 2023.

After being selected, pastors (and their spouses, if married) participate in a three-day Personal Finance Academy where they join with peers to sharpen their skills in financial management. Then, pastors connect monthly in small peer groups for support and accountability. EIM pastors then gather for two more face-to-face retreats where they share in conversations about their theology of money, leading stewardship, and preaching on the topic of money.

In addition to the financial training and peer support, EIM pastors also receive a financial relief grant of $8,000 (plus $2,000 for taxes) to help pay off debt and/or fund an emergency savings account.

Excellence in Ministry Partners

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indiana:

Also the recipient of a Lilly Endowment grant, the Indiana region has developed “Flourish!” – a similar program serving Disciples pastors in Indiana.

Read more about “Flourish!” here.

Bethany Fellows:

With 20 years of experience in nurturing clergy peer groups, Bethany Fellows works with EIM participants to offer safe and brave spaces for pastors and spouses to share conversation, prayer, and long-lasting collegial relationships.

Lexington Theological Seminary:

LTS’s online education platform helps EIM pastors share in learning experiences with their lay leaders. Web courses in congregational administration and finance part of the EIM curriculum.

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Your continued prayers and financial contributions to this program will help sustain our work.

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