Insurance rates are surging for many or all homeowners and Churches in America. If you know of a place that rates are not going up, let me know please. This is surely a prayer need.
Baptist Press
By Bob Smietana, posted July 16, 2024 in Churches and Ministry
(RNS) – An ongoing wave of disasters – Gulf Coast hurricanes, wildfires in California, severe thunderstorms and flooding in the Midwest – along with skyrocketing construction costs post-COVID have left the insurance industry reeling.
As a result, companies such as Church Mutual, GuideOne and Brotherhood Mutual, which specialize in insuring churches, have seen their reserves shrink. That’s led them to drop churches they consider high risk to cut their losses.
Churches in Texas have been hit particularly hard by these strains on the insurance industry.
Jeff Julian, executive pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, described the church’s experience, beginning with the “snowmageddon” freeze that besieged Texas in 2021.
When everything was still shut down, a frozen pipe burst in one of their offices, resulting in significant flood damage and loss inside the building and a “pretty large” insurance claim.
The church has been able to continue with their insurance provider, to “rock along with increased pay [on premiums] over these years, but we received notice that this year, through our insurance representative, that we’ll be incurring an 85 percent increase for this next year,” Julian said.
The church received notice of the increase a month ago in June, with renewal set to occur in August. Julian said their premium has been about $49,800 a year.
“So, an 85 percent increase on that is going to be where we’re starting to have to take away from ministries, probably,” he said. The Rest of The Story Here
