Bishop Alexander “thinking out loud” about a way forward.

Long-time supporters of Arctic mission and ministry will have heard before about the challenges we face with securing property insurance. This is not a unique problem, but it is a uniquely difficult one. The sharp increases in church property insurance has been well-reported online and in the Anglican Journal over the past few years, leading many churches across the country to change their coverage, seek alternate insurers apart from the long-standing “national plan”, or to make the difficult decision to remove coverage altogether. For us in The Arctic, the increase has been particularly hard to swallow. We’ve seen an increase from $182,500 to $485,000 in just 10 years.

Having sought other quotes and opinions from industry experts, our situation – and our high premiums – come from a ‘perfect storm’ of factors. We serve 49 communities across 3 civil jurisdictions, with a total of 122 properties ranging from abandoned mission houses built by hand in the 1930s, and beloved 2×4 stickbuilt churches built in the style of a sturdy 1950s barn, to modern commercial-style buildings with boilers and self-contained water and sewer systems for communities without southernstyle underground utility pipes, together with a number of ‘mission houses’built in different eras. Most communities have no road connection, so building materials are expensive – and also very hard for insurers to estimate. Most have no fire hydrants and are served by a volunteer fire department – not something the underwriter likes to see on the checklist. And, perhaps worst of all, the similar-sized buildings in most communtiies are government faciltiies, often built by southernbased national corporations at several times more than the national average construction cost per square foot, making calculation of the “replacement value” on our buildings an almost impossible guessing game.

The good news, we know, is if a catastrophe strikes a church building that is essential to the community, the community rallies around. While there are wages to be paid and materials to be purchased, local contractors, plumbers, electricians, public housing maintainers, and the rest are happy to do their part to re-build the church or hall without placing any unnecessary burden (or price-tag!) on their community. A good Anglican parish exists for the sake of the whole community, and like the rebuilding of the temple in the book of Ezra, we must believe that God will provide all that is needed, even from the most unlikely of sources. But, if we look at the graph, knowing that each $100,000 can provide the stipend and benefits for a full-time minister doing on-the-ground ministry in a community, I have to ask: how long do we let this continue?

Yet, of course, there is great risk that comes from carrying no property insurance at all. But what if there was a middle way? I think there could be.

British Columbia and Alberta have both passed legislation to allow the establishment and legal registration of “captive insurance companies”. This is an idea already found elsewhere in the Western world, where a corporation (such as the Diocese) could establish it’s own property insurance company, with no upcharging, no profits to be earned, and no middle-men charging commissions. It would look like this: an insurance company (perhaps the “Arctic Anglican Mutual Insurance Company”?) begins with a reserve fund of about $6-million. That would be enough to rebuild a functional church building to meet the needs of even our biggest congregations. There would be an agreed-upon formula for how and when floods or vandalism or arson is covered, just as with any existing insurance coverage, and parishes would pay their (reduced!) premiums into that reserve fund each year.

Each year, the interest on that fund would be reinvested. And, over time, the ‘profits’ in that fund the money beyond what was required to cover any losses – could be paid back to the Diocese in the form of grants that can go toward upgrades and renovations to church buildings and mission houses. Would it pay everything in a total worse case scenario? No. But, we are people of faith. We don’t make idols out of insurance policies or bank accounts, and we should know that our trust is not in overseas multi-national investment bankers and actuaries at Lloyds of London- it’s in Almighty God, who will provide all that we need and more to see the Gospel go forth.
Right now, I’m just thinking out loud.

I need people to pray for wisdom and direction around this. One of the biggest hold-ups to going forward with the multi-purpose buildings that we’ve talked about for a few years is that they will be nearly impossible (or impossibly expensive!) to insure in the regular commercial insurance market, because of our location. There are big plans to bless our communities by replacing worn-out churches with multi-storey buildings that include ground-floor churches and upperlevel housing in an affordable and sustainable way, but I sure am thankful God has given us the opportuntiy to address the insurance issue upfront, instead of embarking on this project before counting the cost (sounds a lot like Luke 14:28- 30!)

Perhaps captive property insurance is the way to go. That said, we certainly don’t have $6-million of otherwise unrestricted cash to put into a reseve fund! But, if it’s of God, He’ll provide.

Now, what would that look like?

• Maybe it’s 7 or 8 single people or couples without children who are willing to donate the proceeds of their home to the Diocese of The Arctic after their death, as the basis of a property reserve fund.
• Maybe it’s someone whom the Lord has blessed richly who feels called to leave a legacy that can make a real impact, that can change the story of Arctic mission and ministry for generations to come.
• Maybe there’s a church or community organization whose board has discerned that they are to sell a piece of land or a building and re-invest the proceeds into providing for mission and ministry.

Maybe this is a great idea from the Lord… or as a beloved former mentor used to say, maybe this is just gas!
But will you join me in prayer about how we address these insurance costs in the future?
And, if you happen to be reading this and have some expertise in finance, captive insurance, “actuarial computations”, and all the rest that is beyond the scope of this particular bishop, please do be in touch!