Eight tips for addressing inflation creep

Chris Lewis , senior relationship manager , Thrivent Church Financing

Church Financing

How does a church make a mid-course adjustment to the vision , facility drawings , funding and timeline of a project when costs have increased significantly ? Believe it or not , this is a very real scenario that occurs regularly all over the U . S . Many ministries are seeing project costs escalate , a disheartening reality considering that facility expansion takes years to plan , with many hours invested in planning , praying , working on committees and consulting with professionals . If your church is in this situation , we hope the following tips can help you manage this challenging time .

1 . Don ’ t panic

Inflationary pressures are common and not something you can control . Focus on what you can control : budget , project scope , cash .

2 . Scale to reality

When prices increase , it forces more intentional consideration . Do I focus on absolute needs , wants or both ? Extend financially , recalibrate or delay ?

3 . Raise more cash

If scaling the project to make it affordable isn ’ t an option , consider raising additional cash to offset costs . Financing inflation is a costly matter .

4 . Consider borrowing more money

In most construction projects , churches are maximizing their borrowing , so taking on additional debt to offset costs is not realistic . But if your ministry has additional borrowing capacity , this may be an option for you . Your lender can quickly identify if additional debt is a reasonable strategy . If borrowing more is not an option , additional cash contributions will be needed , assuming there is no change to project scope .

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