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Christianity Today, January, 2009 |

Better Than a Bailout

Foreclosure disaster drives California churches to launch home rescue efforts.

Tony Carnes | posted 1/09/2009 08:55AM

Pastor Johnny Murillo had often empathized with his congregation members at Christian Worship Center in Sacramento, California. But when one member came to his office during the 2006 Christmas season, ...

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Ian Brearley

Posted: January 14, 2009 2:33 PM


Praise Jesus! I somehow knew that Spirituality Finances were inseparateley linked. What a hard lesson though.

A hermit

Posted: January 10, 2009 7:00 PM

"You cannot serve God and money.[mammon]" Matt. Jesus was homeless. Jesus preached sharing and not "gathering into barns where things mold and rot." The American dream is material- God's is based on loving God first, "and all these things will be added unto you." Megachurches in trouble should be converted into housing for their congregations. Greed and materialism most affect 'family values', not abortion, gay marriage, and 'socialism'. A good wake-up article, but sad that except for the congregation in Queens no one was prophetic enough to see it coming.

cynthia curran

Posted: January 10, 2009 4:39 PM


Most of Santa Ana and West Anaheim and Garden Grove are heavy immirgant areas. And have high levels of school children on free and reduce lunch programs. So, housing prices soaring in that type of area to $650,000 means that there was something that wasn't right. One reason why La, Orange and the San Diego and the Inland empire which have a lot of hispanic immirgants were hard hit by all this.

bruce conyngham

Posted: January 10, 2009 3:39 PM

Churches and congregations buying, building or owning their church premises. Better to consider the wisdom of owning nothing but renting ? Grand public buildings are not in the Biblea and don't bring in the lost. The constant demand for money - often called giving to God - is not good testimony. This report is a case of God's name used to collect money for others bad management. Leaders who borrow money must do so only by personal guarantee. Church committees and pastors are not the best planners or financial experts but are open to the temptations throuth their advisors. Think of the millions provided by christians for thousands of churches. The people's money is better used by the families and the needy who don't come to church? There would be expenses but the cost to church attenders is far less. . Could someone research the topic - not based on what people or pastors think [ who should not be heading financial matters] but on the economic reality of Chrisitan fellowship.

Martha Huntley

Posted: January 10, 2009 11:11 AM

The poll questions are off, because everyone has been affected by the housing crisis. We have not had to move, nor were we planning to sell our house. But its value has gone down because in our community of 33 homes, five are for sale and can't be sold just now, and two are in foreclosure, which lowers the value of all the houses. Also some neighbors can't afford assessment and maintenance fees to keep the community up. Our congregational income is down because of people losing their jobs, and those who have lost their jobs may very well lose their homes. We are all related.

MP	Posted: January 10, 2009 10:14 AM

An excellent, honest article. These kinds of stories need to be heard by the whole Church. Unfortunately, evangelicals seem all too vulnerable to such worldly wisdom, given their great desire to "do church" in ways that emulate the culture. The medicine will be painful to swallow, but these kinds of examples provide hope for healing: a return to discipleship that pervades and directs the whole of life; the love of God more than the world and money; the true strength of the church as a creation of the Holy Spirit who restores us to the image of Christ. Perhaps God is speaking so loudly that we are unable to hear, given the noise and idle chatter suffered by many churches in the name of "effective" communication. Is there a word from the Lord?

Chris Moyler

Posted: January 10, 2009 6:56 AM

Dear CT, Thank you so much for a truly excellent article. Sub-prime means very little to most folk until an article like this tells the story in real lives. We are truly in your debt Tony Carnes. Please let's have lots more in this practical vein, that will help ordinary church folk to make right decisions. Here in London UK, my wife and I borrowed more than we could repay. We haven't lost our home, but are now on an interest-only mortgage, with no prospect in sight of ever paying off the debt. We didn't get our discipleship right, but we are now a little older and wiser. Magical thinking, that the Lord will bless us just because we are his children, without any clear path of discipline and obedience, is no substitute for true faith but mere presumption! Keep up the good work CT! many blessings, Chris and Ruth Moyler

Doug	Posted: January 10, 2009 6:31 AM

As a pastor of a small church and real estate appraiser and broker I have often saved people from terrible financing deals brought on by crooked mortgage brokers. But this mortgage meltdown should teach us a few things about housing. 1. Owning your own home isn't always the best thing. I have seen too many people use their homes like investments, ATM machines, and not like places to live. Sometimes it's a better decision to rent because it is the most affordable thing to do. 2. People need should not borrow a large percentage of their home's purchase price. I didn't buy my first home until I was nearly 40. We had 40,000 to put down on a home that was a shell. My wife and I finished it with our own two hands in the next year. Yeh, I could have hired it all done. But the reality is that we wouldn't have been able to afford it. The church needs to realize that if we can't manage earthly riches how can we manage heavenly riches. We can't have it all now without paying for it.

Bev Murrill (Registered User)

Posted: January 10, 2009 2:55 AM

This is a great article... thanks for giving us the background on this. I live and minister in the UK and the situation is beginning to go down this same route, with many large companies going to the wall causing widespread unemployment which exacerbates the housing crisis. God help us to see this as an opportunity to bring His kingdom to the situation, as opposed to wailing and weeping with those who don't know Christ. This could be one of the most fruitful times for the spread of the gospel that we have known in our lifetime.

Melissa

Posted: January 09, 2009 7:41 PM

I appreciate the fact that the church has learned this vital lesson and are now preparing and doing what they can to prevent anything like this from happening again. And doing their part to educate their parishoners about the importance of their finances. That is an awesome idea to bring in those that have an excellent knowledge of the mortgage world. And doing what they can to keep the loan sharks out. There is something that my father taught me when I was younger and I believe it to be true for this stuff today. Is that, if you want it really bad take 7 days to consider it and to think it through and if in 7 days you still want to do it than go for it. This piece of advice helped me and my husband from saying yes to a salesperson for a Time Share. I hated that they wanted us to "sign now!" During the process I wanted to get out of there and just tell the lady "No" in fact when she was pulled away my husband and I both got a chance to talk to each othe and I told him about my rese

Roger

Posted: January 09, 2009 7:10 PM

I appreciate the comment from the pastor at Templo Calvario about the church slacking off in their teaching of solid stewardship principles to their parishioners. The onus is on us, the consumers, to get the facts about the purchases and investments we make. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" Shame on predatory lenders who take advantage of innocent people . . . but shame on us as well if we don't take the time to do our homework regarding such a large investment. This isn't a cup of coffee or a pair of jeans we're talking about . . . it's the most substantial investment purchase a person will ever make.

Kimberley

Posted: January 09, 2009 6:13 PM


Incredible article! I am so sorry that so many people have been affected by this, and my prayers go to all those families.

ketch22

Posted: January 09, 2009 1:47 PM


God bless the man and his family that come out stronger in faith and walk with God after something like this. It scares me to think that I could face this someday, and how I would respond. I pray that God never tests me like this.

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