high interest: investments and church loans by Richard Adams Find out more about the Church Extension Loan Fund at www.homemissions.net.

God has blessed the Church Extension Loan Fund (CELF) with $25 million in total assets. Our investments are always higher in interest than the bank offers. If you invest in a local bank CD, you face a penalty if you withdraw your funds early. This is not the case with a CELF investment. You are charged no penalty fees for early withdrawals.

Money invested in CELF is loaned only to Free Will Baptist churches. You get the better of two worlds. You receive a higher interest rate on your investment while at the same time you help build Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-preaching churches.

The goal of CELF is not only to help build churches, but the right kind of churches—churches that teach Free Will Baptist doctrine, with pastors true to the Word in their teaching and preaching.

When God calls missionaries to plant a church in a new location, and the time comes to purchase property or build, CELF provides funds for them. Loans are made to churches as first mortgages against their property after it is determined that the congregation is financially prepared to make each monthly payment.
Several missionaries will need loans soon, and CELF is anxious to help them. Partner with the Home Missions Department and home missionaries to build new churches. We need your investments!

The Church Extension Loan Fund loaned more than five million dollars to Free Will Baptist churches in 2005. However, CELF does more than help churches, it is a good investment for the following reasons:

When you invest in CELF, you invest in souls. Your money builds churches where people are introduced to Christ, where the gospel is taught and preached, and where people take the message of Christ from door to door through their communities.

CELF provides a good return on your financial investment: 3 1/2% for amounts under $25,000.00, 4% for $25,000 to $50,000, 4 1/2% for $50,000 to $100,000, and 5% for any investment over $100,000.

You can withdraw money on 30 days notice without a penalty. Most banks require you to sign a contract for 6 months to 5 years, and you incur a penalty if you withdraw the money, even for emergency reasons. Such penalties sap the amount you earn in interest.

Your investment is safe. With 127 active church loans and a track record of more than 300 loans in the past 16 years, you can have confidence in the CELF program. If a loan should default, the other 126 would carry on until the property could be liquidated. To date, however, CELF has not foreclosed on a single loan issued to a church.

Without your investment in CELF, many churches could not obtain loans. Although more than $5 million dollars was loaned to FWB churches in 2005, additional churches need your help. Make a sound investment in building churches. For more information, call Richard Adams toll free, at (877) 767-7674.