Church Insurance Bills Soar, Up 119% in Three Years at One Mississippi Church
Storms, abuse claims and huge jury awards drove church premiums up for five years, insurers say, but some churches are now starting to see lower rates.
See where this is ›NASHVILLE, Tenn. —
Insurance has become one of the heaviest bills many churches pay. At Bethel Baptist Church in Monticello, Miss., Pastor Adam Wyatt says the church's insurance cost has gone up 119 percent in three years, according to a report by David Roach for Baptist Press, published Nov. 7 and shared by Religion Unplugged.
“One of the things that is really hurting church budgets is insurance,” Wyatt wrote in a Facebook post cited in the report. An industry journal analysis cited by Baptist Press put church rate increases this year at 12 to 30 percent.
Andre Krutainis, vice president of specialty portfolios at GuideOne Insurance, said the three biggest insurers of religious organizations, GuideOne, Church Mutual and Brotherhood Mutual, all went through “some level of financial distress.” He pointed to severe weather, sexual abuse claims that followed the #ChurchToo movement, and jury verdicts that grew faster than inflation. The large insurers limited coverage and raised prices, and other companies stopped insuring religious groups.
Krutainis said church insurance had been a soft, competitive market from about 2006 until the pandemic. He said one pastor cried in a meeting with him and said, “I have to make a choice between insurance and my salary.”
Churches have been an exception in the wider market. Insurance Journal has reported that premiums for large commercial properties have fallen steadily since 2023, the report noted.
Some relief may be coming. GuideStone Financial Resources, the Southern Baptist benefits organization, changed its approach this year: instead of offering coverage through one carrier, as it had done with Brotherhood Mutual, its insurance division now works as a broker so churches can compare dozens of carriers. It is doing this in 13 southeastern states and may eventually serve 48 states, but not New York or Hawaii because of their insurance laws.
Matt Cardwell, who leads GuideStone's property and casualty insurance team, said the last three to five years have been very hard on churches, but the market began to soften over the past 12 to 18 months. “Many churches are starting to see lower premiums across the board,” he said.
