Similar to other business types, churches also need business insurance to protect themselves from liabilities arising from managing and running the church business. We are covering all aspects of church insurance in this article.
- The 6 best church insurance companies
- What is church insurance?
- Why do I need church insurance?
- What business insurance does a church need?
- How much does church insurance cost?
The 6 Best Church Insurance Companies
Church insurance might not be the most popular business insurance type. We are studying more than 10 companies providing church insurance and below are our recommendation of the 6 best ones.
- CoverWallet: Best for comparing online quotes
- Simply Business: Best for finding low-cost church liability coverage
- Farmers Church Insurance: Best for convenience
- Church Mutual Insurance: Best for knowing what your church needs
- GuideOne Insurance: Best for their FaithGuard system
- Hummel Group: Best for knowing before you buy
CoverWallet: Best for comparing online quotes
If you want to compare several quotes for your church insurance policy before making the final decision, you might want to consider CoverWallet. CoverWallet is a digital broker specializing in business insurance. They work with several leading business insurance companies such as The Hartford, Liberty Mutual, Hiscox, Nationwide, etc. After you complete the lead form on their website, which only takes a few minutes, they will provide several quotes from these companies in one place so that you can compare and select the best one for you.
If you buy a church insurance policy through them, you will be able to have access to their digital dashboard to manage all of your business policies in one place. There are several great features on the digital dashboard such as downloading the certificate of insurance, filing a claim, and renewing the policy.
Simply Business: Best for finding low-cost liability church insurance
Simply Business is another small business digital brokerage. They focus on helping small businesses, churches is a segment of customers that they work with, find low-cost coverage from the 30+ carrier partners that they work with. They have built their quoting platform and operational system in such a way that it favors finding the coverage with the lowest cost for their customers.
This choice sometimes makes it difficult for them to be able to provide several quotes online for you to compare since the carrier offering the cheapest quote may not be able to provide that online. In these cases, they prioritize providing you with the cheapest quote, rather than online quotes. In several cases, they are still able to provide quotes online though.
If your main goal is to find the cheapest church liability insurance, you may want to give them a try.
Farmers Church Insurance: Best for convenience
Best For Convenience: Farmers’ has knowledgeable agents spread all across the country, so there’s sure to be a representative near you.
Farmers Insurance Group is a trusted company with over 90 years of experience in the industry. They offer specialized, customizable church insurance that offers you and your congregation piece of mind.
This includes Business Property insurance, which covers costs when your sanctuary, administrative buildings and equipment are damaged by vandalism, fires or other unexpected disasters. Business Liability Insurance is another important coverage, as it will protect against liability if injuries are sustained on your property or caused by a member of your staff.
Business Crime Insurance is another policy offered by Farmers which can help cover losses if robbery, fraud, forgery or theft is committed by staff, volunteers, congregants or others.
This policy goes hand in hand with Pastoral Professional Liability, insurance that covers your church if one of your parishioners or churchgoers is negatively affected by counseling they receive from a clergyperson.
Farmers’ employs knowledgeable agents with the resources to let you know which specific church insurance policy is right for you. With their long history and experienced agents, it’s no wonder they’re considered one of the top agencies providing church insurance today.
Church Mutual Insurance: Best for knowing what your church needs
Best For knowing what your church needs: With their focus on religious organizations, Church Mutual offers specialized expertise in their field.
Church Mutual Insurance Company was founded in 1897, and unlike some of the other companies on this list, they specialize in churches and religious organizations. Church Mutual offers insurance for all denominations of religious groups, in addition to schools, camps, denominational offices, nonprofit & human service organizations and senior living communities.
Church Mutual provides a robust selection of commercial property and liability insurance, including multi-peril, workers’ compensation and commercial auto insurance. Because Church Mutual specializes in churches and religious groups, they are one of the premier providers of insurance services in the religious institutional marketplace and other similar markets.
With their focused outreach on the religious sector, Church Mutual provides liability, workers’ compensation and commercial automobile insurance to more than twice as many religious organizations as any other insurance company. Their customers include houses of worship, denominational offices, schools, camps, nonprofit & human service organizations and senior living communities.
GuideOne Insurance: Best for their FaithGuard system
Best for their FaithGuard system: GuideOne offers special FaithGuard packages, coverages that specialize in churches. These packages include Property and Liability coverages for houses of worship.
GuideOne Insurance is another company that focuses on churches and religious affiliated groups. They are licensed in all 50 states and maintain a far reaching network of thousands of independent agents serving more than 51,000 commercial policyholders. In addition, GuideOne has a Best’s Credit Rating of A- (Excellent).
GuideOne boasts an industry-leading FaithGuard property and liability insurance coverage, which has a wide variety of policies for your church or religious organization. Policyholders receive customized coverage specifically tailored to your congregation, staff and houses of worship. GuideOne’s FaithGuard policies ensure your congregation will be protected from issues that specifically arise within religious organizations, in addition to covering more mainstream business problems such as property damage and theft.
Hummel Group: Best for knowing before you buy
Best for knowing before you buy: Hummel Group offers expert assessments at no cost to you, allowing you to get the coverage you need.
The Hummel Group is another church-specific insurance company, founded by a pastor in Berlin, OH in 1957. They have a long tradition of insuring and advising ministries across the country. The Hummel Group provides insurance coverage, health benefits and risk mitigation for all types of churches, to give you and your parishioners safety and comfort, and allow you to focus on worship.
The Hummel Group is comprised of non-profit ministry leaders, focused on family and community. Also, Hummel Group agents provide risk-free assessments and offer custom risk management resources to their clients.
Hummel Group offers a wide variety of policies, including: property, liability, and workers’ compensation insurance and benefits. With their church-centered focus and customizable coverages, they have been a trusted name in church insurance for several decades.
What is Church Insurance?
Every business needs insurance, and churches are no different. Insurance is essentially a contract between the insurance company and your business, where the insurer agrees to cover financial losses in case of damages. Church insurance is a specialized type of business insurance intended to protect church owners from liability. Church owners and operators can make sure their property is insured, along with their vehicles, employees, and other extensions of the business.
Why do I need Church Insurance?
Churches are places of worship, but that doesn’t mean they are immune from lawsuits. Churches not only have parishioners, but they can also stage events like weddings, baptisms, funerals, and more. You are going to want liability insurance for these large gatherings. Also, churches have employees who may need personal injury and workmans’ comp insurance policies. A church is a business like any other, and needs the right coverage in order to perform its duties properly.
What Business Insurance does my Church Need?
There are two main types of insurance for churches and ministries, with several different subgroups within each. These include:
1. Commercial property insurance for churches
If your church owns the actual structure, plus any personal property inside the church, then you need commercial property insurance. This covers property like furnishings, landscaping, and buildings. This could also include valuable items in the church, like pews, church pianos, and other musical instruments.
Commercial property insurance protects against incidents like a natural disaster, theft, fire, and more. This coverage is key for rebuilding after an unexpected financial issue. Falling under this umbrella is commercial auto insurance coverage. This could be necessary if your church uses buses or vans, which would need to be insured against any potential damages or injuries that may occur throughout the course of their use.
2. General liability insurance for churches
General liability insurance is protection against lawsuits and damages where someone could make a claim against you or your church. It includes general liability for public and products, as in instances where a person claims they were injured or experienced loss or property damage on church grounds.
3. Personal accident insurance for churches
Another form of insurance under general liability is personal accident insurance. This is similar to general liability, but is an additional form of accident insurance protecting you and your churchgoers. Personal accident insurance could be useful in situations like special events such as fairs, festivals, auctions, fundraisers, and other outreach activities hosted by the ministry. It could also cover conferences and retreats, including camps, day trips, and sporting events. Personal accident insurance would also cover children in your ministry’s care, and volunteers of child care operations, including nursery programs, preschool, kindergarten, and before- and after-school programs, to name a few.
4. Professional liability insurance for churches
A more specialized type of church insurance is professional liability, which protects in cases where a party feels they have suffered a loss due to your services such as counseling, prayer ministry, or pastoral care.
5. Management liability insurance for churches
Management liability protects your church staff in a situation where church officers, directors, or employees are alleged to have caused harm in some way.
How Much Does Church Insurance Cost?
How much church insurance costs can vary depending on the policy, location, and what specific coverage you need. The average price of a standard $1,000,000/$2,000,000 general liability insurance policy for small churches and other religious organizations ranges from $37 to $59 per month. This figure is based on location, membership, services offered, payroll, sales and experience.
Commercial property insurance for churches is usually the most expensive since churches are usually located in nice buildings and worth a lot of money, often in the millions of dollars. Since these properties are expensive, the commercial property insurance is also expensive. If the building where the church is located is worth $5 million, a commercial property insurance policy providing comprehensive coverage for such a building can be $25,000-$35,000 a year.
In order to get the best price for your church insurance policy, be sure to shop around with a few companies or a digital broker like CoverWallet so that you can compare several quotes before selecting the best one for you.
Church liability insurance
As you operate a church, you may have many people organize various activities in your church. Church liability insurance will protect you from any claims and lawsuits from these people if they are bodily injured or have property damages in your church.
Church liability insurance is the most common and important insurance policy that all churches should have. Churches are considered a public place that people gather and do many activities. Accidents can happen and when they happen, without church liability insurance, you may be in trouble.
Church liability insurance is called church general liability insurance in the US or church public liability insurance in the UK.
Below are a couple of FAQs related to church insurance
How much general liability insurance should a church have?
This can vary between churches, but a generally accepted figure is around $1 million dollars of general liability insurance. It’s important for churches to display a certificate of general liability insurance on their premises to show that they are properly insured.
Do churches need public liability insurance?
If another company is renting out your church space for an event, then you definitely need to purchase public liability insurance or general liability insurance in the US. Without this insurance, you would be liable for any damage that may be incurred to the buildings or church property.
What other types of insurance does my church need?
Your church may need some or all of the following types of insurance. Most churches will already have property insurance and general liability, but you might also want to consider professional liability, sexual misconduct liability, travel insurance, auto insurance, and umbrella insurance for your congregation.
Small church insurance
Small churches may not need as much insurance as larger churches. However, there are some types of insurance that all churches should have. Most churches should have general liability insurance and property insurance. If your church has a day care or after school program, you will also need to have daycare liability insurance. If your church hosts events, you will need event liability insurance. You may also want to consider health insurance for your staff and volunteers.
Church property insurance
Church property insurance, or also called commercial property insurance for churches, is a type of insurance that churches can purchase in order to financially protect themselves in the event that their property is damaged or destroyed. Their property includes the church itself and any valuable properties stored in the church building. This type of insurance can help churches rebuild after a disaster, and it can also help them pay for any repairs that need to be made. Churches need this type of insurance because they often have a lot of valuable property on-site, and they can’t afford to lose it all in a disaster.
Church building insurance
First of all, “church building insurance” and “church property insurance” may be just two different words for exactly the same thing. However, depending on insurance companies, they can refer to slightly different coverage.
Church building insurance is a type of property insurance that covers the physical structure of a church. This type of insurance can help protect the church from damage or destruction caused by events such as fires, storms, and vandalism. In some cases, church building insurance doesn’t cover the contents inside the church, it only covers the building itself.
Church property insurance, in some cases, can refer to a type of property insurance that covers the contents of a church. This type of insurance can help protect the church’s belongings from damage or theft. It can also help reimburse the church for any lost income resulting from damage to or destruction of its property.
Again, these two terms may mean exactly the same, ie. they refer to an insurance policy that covers both the structure of the church building and any content inside the building. In such case, it is the same as commercial property insurance for the church.
