There are few things planters want to think about less than church plant insurance.
But with all the lawyers and wacky lawsuits out there, your organization simply has to be covered as a cost of being a nonprofit organization here in the US. Here is your essential survival guide for navigating the church insurance industry:
Your General Liability Policy
Don’t get confused with employee health insurance – what we’re talking about here is liability insurance for churches. Here are the basics of what a standard church plant insurance policy covers:
- You break something
- Someone gets hurt
- Stuff gets stolen
There are many optional extras (riders), but I strongly suggest adding the 3 for sure:
- Counseling Professional Liability – someone doesn’t like the pastoral counseling they got
- Employment Practices Liability – someone didn’t like getting fired
- Directors, Officers & Trustees Liability – setting up a corporation is supposed to shield its members from lawsuits, but somehow the lawyers always figure out a way to throw your leaders under the bus and name them in the suit
But I Don’t Have a Building Yet
The church insurance industry is pretty much not going to issue you a policy without its being tied to a physical location somewhere. Along with the government, they seem to be hung up on church buildings. But you’re a church planter; how do you get church insurance without a building?
Fortunately, more and more of the insurance companies are getting used to church planting. Not that long ago, it wasn’t unusual to get the deer-in-the-headlights look when trying to explain to an insurance agent that you are starting a new church.
I set my church planters up using their home as the ‘worship facility’ with the understanding that we’re actively hunting for a leased space. When we sign a lease, we update the policy with the new address and information.
And actually, that usually happens just before signing the lease because your new landlord is going to want a Certificate of Insurance to prove you’re covered. They typically want that even before the lease is signed.
Expect an increase in your cost (premium) when you add the new facility. The rate is based largely on the square footage you occupy, and that number is bigger at a school/theater than at your home.
Insurance for Your Trailer
You’re a mobile church and you tote equipment to and from your rented worship facility every week in a trailer. Even if you already have a church plant insurance policy, they don’t include insuring church plant trailers in the standard policy.
They day you get your trailer, get it added to your insurance. You’ll do that by adding a second policy, a Business Auto Policy, which is very much like your personal car insurance.
And make sure you add the content value, too. You probably just bought thousands of dollars worth of AVL equipment. The content replacement value needs to be added to your basic liability policy, and you’ll need to add Inland Marine coverage to protect the contents while they’re in transit each week.
Where you park the trailer matters, too! The rates you pay for both the Business Auto and Inland Marine insurance may be affected by where you park the trailer. The best thing to do is park it at a self storage facility behind a locked fence with video surveillance.
Read more about church plant insurance and find other practical help at www.churchplantingtactics.com.
Written by guest writer Patrick Bradley (@PlantingTactics) of www.churchplantingtactics.com who is here to discuss the essentials of church plant insurance. Check out his website for tons of great resources that are sure to help you on your church planting journey. Also follow @PlantingTactics and @Stadia.
