18 lenders
Click any lender to read the full review
Denomination extension funds
9 lenders
Extension Fund
AGFinancial
Springfield, MO National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$250K to $50M+
Extension Fund
BCLC (Baptist Church Loan Corporation)
Dallas, TX National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
By inquiry
Extension Fund
CDF Capital
Irvine, CA National
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Extension Fund
Christian Financial Resources
Lake Mary, FL National
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Extension Fund
Cornerstone Fund
Cleveland, OH National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$10K to multi-million
Extension Fund
Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF)
St. Louis, MO National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
By inquiry
Extension Fund
Solomon Foundation
Parker, CO National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$250K to $25M+
Extension Fund
UCC Church Building & Loan Fund
Cleveland, OH National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$10K to $5M
Extension Fund
Wesleyan Investment Foundation
Fishers, IN National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
By inquiry
Faith-based credit unions
1 lender
Specialty brokers
5 lenders
Broker
Church Capital Corporation
Note: Private-money lender: rates are typically well above extension funds and banks. Usually considered only after conventional lenders decline.
Houston, TX / Alameda, CA National
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Broker
Church Capital Resources
Fort Worth, TX National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
By inquiry
Broker
Emerging Capital Funding
Cleveland, OH National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$200K to $65M
Broker
Faith Based Funding
Jacksonville, FL National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
By inquiry
Broker
Griffin Church Loans
Fredericksburg, VA National
PurchaseConstructionRefinanceRenovation
Loan range
$75K to $35M
Traditional banks
3 lenders
Bank
Farmers & Merchants Bank
Long Beach, CA California
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Bank
First Citizens Bank
Raleigh, NC National
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Bank
Thrivent Church Financing
Minneapolis, MN National
PurchaseConstructionRefinance
Loan range
By inquiry
Choosing a lender
How to choose the right church lender
There are four lender types, and the right one depends entirely on your church. Picking the category is the easy part. The hard part, and the part that decides your rate, is whether your numbers are ready.
Denomination extension funds
Funds like AGFinancial, LCEF, and the Solomon Foundation typically offer the best rates because they view church lending as mission-aligned. They generally only serve churches within their denomination.
Faith-based credit unions
Credit unions like AdelFi serve churches across denominations with competitive rates and modern digital processes. Often the best option for non-denominational churches.
Specialty brokers
Brokers like Griffin Church Loans work with multiple lenders to find the best fit for your situation. Especially valuable for complex deals like construction projects or challenging financial profiles.
Traditional banks
A few banks and faith-based lenders like Thrivent serve churches of any affiliation at scale. Most retail banks, though, charge higher rates or shy away from church loans.
The lender type is the easy part. Your readiness is what decides.
No lender, in any category, says yes until your numbers hold up. See where you stand before you reach out, free.
By tradition
Lender guides by denomination
Each guide covers the lenders, governance, and loan profile specific to that church tradition.
Or start at the hub: all church loan guides by denomination.
Black Church
Primary lender: See the guide
Read guide 30,000+ churches
Baptist Churches
Primary lender: BCLC Church Lending
Read guide 47,000+ churches
Non-Denominational Churches
Primary lender: Thrivent Church Financing
Read guide 35,000+ churches
Methodist Churches
Primary lender: Wesleyan Investment Foundation
Read guide 24,000+ churches
Pentecostal & Assemblies of God Churches
Primary lender: AGFinancial
Read guide 13,000+ churches
Lutheran Churches
Primary lender: Lutheran Church Extension Fund
Read guide 16,000+ churches
Catholic Parishes
Primary lender: Diocesan financing
Read guide 17,000+ churches
Assemblies of God Churches
Primary lender: AGFinancial
Read guide 13,000+ churches
Presbyterian Churches
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 13,000+ churches
Reformed Churches
Primary lender: UCC Church Building Loan Fund
Read guide 9,000+ churches
Episcopal Churches
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 6,300+ churches
Seventh-day Adventist Churches
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 5,800+ churches
Church of God Churches
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 8,000+ churches
Hispanic Church
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 16,000+ churches
Korean Church
Primary lender: AdelFi
Read guide 4,000+ churches
Keep exploring
What these lenders typically fund
Loan-type guides and comparisons. Use these when you know the project. Stay on this page to browse lenders.
Church loans: the complete guide
How church loans work, which loan type fits, and how to start.
Read the guideChurch loan requirements
The 7 factors lenders evaluate before they say yes.
Read the guideBest church lenders of 2026, ranked
Our side-by-side comparison of the top church lenders and who they fit.
Read the guideChurch construction loans
Financing new builds and expansions with draw-schedule lending.
Read the guideChurch refinancing loans
Lower your rate, free up cash flow, or handle a balloon maturity.
Read the guideChurch real estate loans
Purpose-built lending to buy a building or land for your church.
Read the guideChurch mortgages: terms and structure
Amortization, balloon notes, and how a church mortgage differs from a home loan.
Read the guideBest banks for church loans
Which commercial banks lend to churches, what they cost, and when they beat extension funds.
Read the guideCurrent church loan interest rates
Church loan rate estimates by lender type, updated daily from Federal Reserve data.
Read the guideCommon questions
Church lender directory FAQ
What churches ask before they start calling lenders. Questions about qualifying, comparing offers, and loan products are answered on the pages linked above.
Most church lenders lend across all 50 states rather than a single region, because the category is small enough that national reach is the norm. The denomination extension funds (AGFinancial, LCEF, the Solomon Foundation, CDF Capital, Wesleyan Investment Foundation, Cornerstone Fund, the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund, BCLC, Christian Financial Resources), the faith-based credit union AdelFi, and the specialty brokers (Griffin Church Loans, Emerging Capital Funding, Church Capital Resources, Church Capital Corporation, Faith Based Funding) all operate nationally. The exceptions are banks: Thrivent and First Citizens lend nationally, while a bank like Farmers & Merchants lends inside its own footprint.
There is no official count, because church lending is not a regulated category the way mortgage lending is. What is countable is the set of lenders that finance churches as a core business rather than as an occasional exception, and that set is small: this directory profiles 18 of them, spanning denomination extension funds, faith-based credit unions, specialty brokers, and banks. Add the regional banks and local credit unions that will write a church loan for an existing depositor and the practical number is larger, but the list of lenders a church can approach cold, from anywhere in the country, is closer to two dozen than two hundred.
They differ in where the money comes from. A denomination extension fund raises capital from members of its own tradition and lends it back to congregations in that tradition, which is why extension funds usually carry the lowest rates and why they usually will not lend outside their denomination. A faith-based credit union is a regulated depository institution that takes deposits and lends across denominations, so it is often the best route for a non-denominational church. A broker lends nothing: they place your loan with lenders on their panel and are paid either by the lender through the rate or by you at closing, which buys reach and deal-structuring help on complex projects at the cost of a layer of compensation.
Most do. Nearly every lender in this directory reports national coverage, so a church in a small market is generally not short of options: the constraint is far more often denomination or loan size than geography. Where geography does matter is with banks, whose church lending tends to follow their branch footprint, and with construction projects, where a lender who knows local permitting and appraisal practice is worth real money even when a national lender would also say yes.
No. Extension fund investments are securities, not bank deposits, and they are not insured by the FDIC, the NCUA, or any government agency. That is a statement about the investor side rather than the borrower side: if your church is borrowing from an extension fund, its insurance status does not affect your loan. It matters if your church is also investing reserves in one. Funds like LCEF and the Solomon Foundation disclose this directly in their offering circulars, and many carry ECFA accreditation, which is an accountability standard and not deposit insurance. AdelFi, as a credit union, is different: deposits there are NCUA insured.
Across this directory the published range runs from about $10,000 at the small end to $65 million at the large end, but no single lender covers that span. Extension funds like the Cornerstone Fund and the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund publish floors as low as $10,000, which makes them realistic for a small congregation replacing a roof. The large construction lenders and brokers start much higher: AGFinancial publishes $250,000 to $50 million and Emerging Capital Funding $200,000 to $65 million. Many lenders publish no range at all and quote by inquiry. If your project is under roughly $250,000, filter to the lenders with a published low floor before you start calling.
