Should your church choose AdelFi?

AdelFi is the only national-scale Christian credit union focused on lending to churches and ministries. The institution was originally founded in 1964 as the Conservative Baptist Credit Union, merged with the Association of Christian Schools International CU in 1984 to form the Evangelical Christian Credit Union (ECCU), and rebranded to AdelFi in February 2022. The name comes from a blend of the Greek "adelphos" (brothers and sisters in Christ) and the Hebrew "adel" (noble, eternal). On December 1, 2025, AdelFi completed a merger of equals with Christian Community Credit Union (CCCU), forming the largest faith-based credit union in the United States. AdelFi now operates as a division of the combined entity.

A few things that make AdelFi structurally different from the other lenders on this list. First, it is a federally chartered credit union. Deposits are NCUA insured up to coverage limits, the same way bank deposits are FDIC insured. Extension funds (AGFinancial, LCEF, Solomon) are not federally insured, so the deposit-side risk profile is meaningfully different. Second, AdelFi is non-denominational by policy. Membership eligibility requires affiliation with any Christian church, school, ministry, or qualifying organization, but does not require a specific denominational tradition. That makes AdelFi a natural fit for non-denominational congregations that fall outside the major denominational extension funds.

Third, AdelFi offers a full ministry banking suite alongside the loan program. Checking, savings, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, missionary banking for cross-border ministry operations, and consumer products for individual members. For a church that wants to consolidate operating cash, deposits, and lending under one faith-aligned institution, that is a real convenience. Most extension funds and church lending shops do not offer deposit accounts at all.

The trade-offs are about transparency and scale. Loan size, maximum LTV, minimum DSCR, term length, time to close, and rate range are all by inquiry for church loans. There is no public rate sheet. Comparison shopping on hard numbers requires starting an inquiry first. AdelFi's pre-merger asset base was around $633 million, which is smaller than AGFinancial or LCEF. The post-merger combined balance sheet is larger, but the exact combined capacity has not been publicly stated yet. For very large projects, capacity could be a constraint until that picture is clearer. The merger also introduces some transition risk: post-merger integrations sometimes produce service variability while systems consolidate.

The membership step is one extra hurdle compared to non-credit-union lenders. To borrow from AdelFi, the church or organization first has to qualify for credit union membership, which means demonstrating affiliation with a Christian church, school, ministry, or qualifying organization. The eligibility bar is low for any Christian church, but it is one more form than borrowing from a bank or an extension fund.

Our recommendation, in one sentence: shortlist AdelFi if your church is non-denominational, you want NCUA-insured deposits in addition to a loan, and you value having ministry banking and lending under one roof. Run the ChurchLend readiness assessment first so you walk into the inquiry already understanding how your church scores on the seven factors AdelFi's underwriters will care about.