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Ministries are often faced with issues that can cause disruptions, loss of resources, and heartache. While it can be difficult and time-consuming to focus on every area of concern, the primary issues can and should be addressed. Practicing risk management helps to increase safety and security for children, families, church workers, and leaders, while helping your church avoid costly disruptions.
Our Church Risk Management Guide can help you recognize areas of risk and learn how to proactively address them. From establishing a church safety and security team to financial protection to emergency preparedness, this guide can assist you in protecting your church and congregants.
The full version of the guide is available to insured churches in the AG Program. Email Us
riskmgmtLIVE is a monthly video series featuring Dr. Richard Hammar and Jerry Sparks, leading experts on risk management for churches and ministries.
During each session, they discuss liability issues and answer submitted questions. Topics are chosen based on timeliness and relevance for the church, including subjects like concealed carry weapons, church social media use, discrimination laws, sexual orientation laws, volunteer screening, and more. Click here to ask a question or suggest a topic.
AGFinancial Insurance offers a variety of bonds to fit your needs.
We are pleased to partner with Old Republic Surety to offer notary bonds, available upon request.
AGFinancial Insurance can handle all of your bonding needs, including contracting, license, and permit bonds. If your church or organization needs a bond of any kind, please call 877.616.5206 or email us at info@agfinancialinsurance.com.
Learn how to prevent and deal with sexual misconduct issues.
For more ebooks and webinars visit our Educational Resources Section
Every church needs two types of insurance: property and liability (casualty). Property insurance covers the things the church owns and should be calculated based on what it would cost to replace them (replacement cost value). Liability insurance covers actions that could leave the church liable for damage to others, including injuries, possessions, and reputations. In our experience, it is crucial for churches to have at least the following liability coverages:
For more information about property and liability insurance and to understand how much coverage your church needs, download The Church Insurance Guide.
Most churches should secure coverage based on the replacement cost value. This will provide enough coverage to rebuild facilities or replace property with new items of like kind and quality. Make sure your agent does a Mitchell Swift Appraisal to determine the replacement cost for your building.
Churches may choose actual cash value if the facilities are in disrepair or the church would never rebuild that type of building. Agents determine this value by taking the amount to replace the building or contents and then subtracting the accumulated depreciation.
Workers’ compensation insurance is needed for all churches. It is not subject to a deductible and includes medical payments for all employees as well as disability payments until the employee can return to work.
Risk management is the process of assessing the likelihood of an accident and its potential financial impact on your church—increased insurance premiums, damaged reputation, financial settlements, legal fees—and then taking steps to help prevent the accident before it happens. But more than just helping you avoid an expensive lawsuit, risk management is about protecting those to whom you minister. You’ve been entrusted with providing a safe place for people to learn and worship. Comprehensive risk management policies both maximize the safety of your congregation and minimize liability for your church.
Coinsurance is the percentage of insurance to the property value. Most companies require that a coinsurance rate of 80% or 90% of the property value be in place at the time of a loss. If this percentage is not met, a coinsurance penalty may result in the event of a claim. For example, if your property is worth $100,000 and the coinsurance requirement is 80%, there would need to be at least $80,000 of coverage in place to pay a claim without incurring a penalty. This penalty could be costly. It is determined by taking the amount of coverage you have and dividing it by the amount of coverage you should have according to the coinsurance requirement. Continuing with the above example, if you have $40,000 of coverage instead of $80,000 (50% of the amount required), the insurance company may penalize you by paying only 50% of your loss.
To avoid a coinsurance penalty, ask your agent for an Agreed Value endorsement on your policy, in addition to insuring your property according to its replacement cost. This endorsement waives any potential coinsurance penalty. There is a small additional cost with most insurance carriers to add this endorsement.
Key man insurance is a life insurance policy for one or more lead pastors, administrators, etc. A key man policy is owned by the ministry and is meant to help compensate the ministry for the death of one of its key leaders. The death benefit can help a church show financial strength to creditors, conduct a proper search for a replacement without worrying about immediate financial needs, and promote a general succession plan.
Ministries should consider a key man policy for the following reasons and circumstances:
To see how much coverage you need, check out Losing a Leader: How Key Man Insurance Can Help a Church Recover.
Agreeing to be named as an additional insured splits your liability with the other party. As a result, your insurance may have to provide defense if the other party is negligent.
For Standard Group Life Insurance questions, call Innovo Benefits Administration at 800.829.5601.
For Church Mutual policy holders, call 800.554.2642.
For all other billing questions, contact us at 866.621.1787 or info@agfinancialinsurance.com.
For Church Mutual policy holders, call 800.554.2642, option 2.
For all other claims, contact us at 866.662.8210 or info@agfinancialinsurance.com.
Update the address of an institution on account(s) and/or investment(s)
Assign or update beneficiaries for your Standard Life Insurance plan.
Set up or change an automatic payment for your premiums directly from your checking account.
Enroll in or make changes to the Minister’s Standard Life Insurance plan (#646527).
Enroll in or make changes to the Missionary’s Standard Life Insurance plan (#656524).
Link and instructions to complete your medical history statement online or by mail, in order to enroll in Standard Life plans.
Update the address of an owner or authorized individual on account(s) and/or investment(s)
Update your legal name on all your investment(s) and/or account(s).
Many of our representatives hold professional designations from the following organizations and actively participate in advanced insurance educational programs. To learn more about our representatives or to contact them, click here.
