CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Mission Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced Dec. 9 a reduction in interest rates for loans made to more than 50 ELCA congregations for initial church-building programs or purchases of vacant sites for future churches. The rate reduction is effective Jan. 1, 2004.
The interest rate for the congregations' loans will be lowered to 3 percent for the remaining terms of the respective loans. Interest rates on these loans varied from 4 to 7 percent. The interest-rate reduction by the Fund represents a savings to the congregations of more than $1.4 million.
The loans receiving the interest-rate reduction were made prior to January 2003, when the Fund announced an interest rate of 3 percent for seven years to young mission congregations for the construction or purchase of initial church buildings. The Fund also offered mission congregations a zero-percent interest rate for two years, followed by a two-percent interest rate for five years, for purchases of vacant land for future church buildings.
"Because the Mission Investment Fund has been blessed with the support of our investors, we are able to offer the same opportunity for a lower interest rate to these congregations," said Andy Waters, vice president for operations, ELCA Mission Investment Fund. "With the reductions in interest rates, these congregations should be able to pay off their loans sooner or apply the funds to furthering their ministries."
The Mission Investment Fund offers investment opportunities to ELCA congregations, their members and ELCA-affiliated institutions such as colleges, universities and social-service agencies. With the invested monies, the Fund makes loans to ELCA mission congregations for purchases of land and construction of initial church units, and to established ELCA congregations for renovating or expanding existing facilities, relocations and purchases of land. Nearly 500 loans are in effect throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
More than one-third of the ELCA's 10,721 congregations, thousands of individual Lutherans and numerous ELCA-affiliated institutions are investors in the Fund. The Mission Investment Fund has total assets of more than $420 million.
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Information about the Mission Investment Fund -- including current interest rates -- is available at http://www.elca.org/ot/mif/ on
the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
