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Opinions on whether a ministry should take on debt or not certainly differ from church to church and often from member to member. Think about it: your church may talk openly about religion and even politics, but what happens when the subject is borrowing money? To help you decide what's best for your situation, your church asked several prominent lenders to give us their best advice on church loans.

When should your church borrow money?

Churches should borrow money when they need to prudently finance some type of expansion of their ministry, recommends Mark Johnson, executive vice president of the Evangelical Christian Credit Union (ECCU) in Anaheim, California. The borrowing church should be a healthy church, in terms of finances and ministry. Financial records should be accurate and up-to-date—reflecting positive trends—and the church should have sound leaders committed to seeing the project completed.

"As a general rule churches should borrow primarily for capital projects," says Rob Dunn, vice president and senior credit products manager at First Union National Bank in Atlanta, Georgia. "Churches with an adequate level of financial management should not have a need to borrow for covering cash-flow shortfalls."

When should your church not borrow money?

If you are a new church, a church with declining contributions, or your membership is divided about borrowing, you should probably not take on new debt.

"It is very unusual, in our experience, to see a church be able to utilize a loan in a manner that reverses negative trends," says ECCU's Johnson.

Likewise, lenders advise against borrowing money during a shortfall.

"Borrowing to cover operational expenses because cash flow is decreasing is not the answer, it only worsens the situation," says Lyndon John son, president and owner of Johnson Mortgage Services in Cin cinnati, Ohio.

"There are times when a ministry should re cognize that some 'belt tightening' may be necessary," says David Turner, manager of marketing for Com monwealth Church Finance in Atlanta, Georgia.

Are churches good credit risks?

"A church is typically an excellent credit risk," Turner says.

Mark Johnson of ECCU agrees. "In our 35 years of history, we have found our client churches to be very good credit risks," he says. "The commitment of the local Bible-teaching church to honesty and integrity is a very real factor in the history of these church loans performing better than other commercial loans."

Dunn adds, "Generally speaking, churches and their leaders take a fairly conservative approach toward the use of debt to finance operations or capital projects. Consequently, the risks are well thought out and mitigated."

How should you shop for a loan?

A church should identify potential lenders by networking with other churches and denominational sources and by talking with key business leaders within your church. Possible lend ers in clude banks, credit unions, de nominational funds, and bond companies. Scott Rolfs, manager of the church and school financing division of Ziegler Capital Markets Group in West Bend, Wisconsin, warns churches to be wary of mortgage brokers who charge fees; often transactions can be handled more quickly and at less cost when a church communicates with lenders directly.

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