At Redeemer, we face a unique challenge providing housing for our pastors. The high cost of housing makes home ownership a nearly impossible objective without additional support.
While we’re all familiar with the lack of affordable housing in our area, our pastors face some unique challenges that make it even more difficult to purchase a house.
• We need our pastors to live close to church. It’s not practical for our pastors to opt for a longer commute from a more affordable community. We need our pastors to live near the church, near the majority of our members, close to where our ministry is happening. That limits our pastors to living in some of the least affordable cities in the US.
• The pastor’s home is a de facto church facility. For many of us, we’re more likely to engage with our pastor in his home than we are to meet at the church office. Not only does this limit it geographically (see above), but it also imposes some unique considerations in the home selection process.
• Our pastors have an inelastic income. Unlike many vocations, pastoral ministry has no path to higher income. Although we aim to pay our pastors well, they do not have any way to increase their income in order to afford a house. There’s no such thing as overtime pay for a pastor, and a side gig isn’t an option.
With these challenges in mind, the Session (our elders) have looked for a model for providing special support to our pastors to allow them to purchase a home without increasing their income. They have settled on a solution that provides housing support for our current pastors, and also enables future pastors to have the same benefits without additional raising additional funds. Here’s how the housing support works:
We’re raising special, dedicated funds to be used for housing support. The money will be used first to help Pastor Adam purchase a home. The money will be loaned to the Feichtmann’s at market interest rates, to be used as a down payment on a home. (In this case, the Feichtmanns are looking for something in Eastside Costa Mesa between 1,000 and 1,300 square feet).
The loan to the Feichtmanns will accrue interest, but will not have a regular repayment schedule. Instead, the balance of the loan will be due when one of these things happens:
• The Feichtmanns sell the house
• Pastor Adam ceases to work as a pastor at Redeemer
When the loan is paid back, the funds will be available again to help another Redeemer pastor purchase a home. By structuring our housing support like this, the funds we raise to help the Feichtmanns will be a blessing to many pastors in the future.
Financially, these housing support loans strengthen Redeemer. They are assets on our balance sheet, and because they are collateralized by the homes, they are safe investments for the church.
If you’re excited to support this investment, you can give specifically towards this fund. Just designate “Pastoral Housing Fund” on your gift, or connect with our treasurer Andrew Evans (andrewmadisonevans@gmail.com, 661-755-2390) to learn how you can donate appreciated assets directly to the church. This is a unique giving opportunity, and no money from the church’s general funds will be allocated to these loans.
My term serving as an elder has come and gone, but I’m still keen to tell you about how Redeemer is supporting our pastors. If you have any questions about how our pastoral housing support works, or why we’re making this a priority, I’d love to connect with you. Please feel free to contact me at camerondavidmoore@gmail.com
Cameron Moore