Texas Baptists partners with Guidestone to offer financial health resources to pastors and ministerial staff

Texas Baptists Center for Ministerial Health invests in Texas Baptists ministers to encourage them towards excellence so they can best serve the Lord and his people. Within the center, the Financial Health Ministry works to increase the fiscal leadership skills of pastoral leaders through financial literacy.

To continue meeting that aim, on May 18 at 9:30am a Guidestone Financial Resources representative will lead a webinar on retirement savings that will cover the 403(b), the Church Matching Protection Benefit Program, and saving strategies. This event is exclusively available to Texas Baptists pastors, ministers and church staff and is made possible through a partnership between the two organizations. To join the webinar, click here.

In 2018, the Financial Health Team conducted a financial health study of Texas Baptists pastors and found some startling data: that 26% of pastors had no retirement savings and only 36% of pastors received retirement contributions from their church. Only 24% of pastors have health coverage through their church. That leaves a majority of pastors needing to find coverage for themselves and their family on their own.

Tammy Tervooren, director of the Center for Financial Health, explained that these resources provide ministry leaders with the information they need to make more informed decisions about retirement, benefits and healthcare.

“A lot of time we make decisions based on a lack of information or limited information without knowing the whole picture. So we want to make sure pastors have the most information to make the best financial decisions possible for them and their families,” she explained.

Following the May 18 webinar, a landing page will be launched that pastors and ministers can visit that will have an informational video from Guidestone that covers the different options on the healthcare market to help pastors find the right health care coverage for their families. The landing page will also have information about Property and Casualty Insurance available through Guidestone.

The May 18 webinar and landing page are new resources to give pastors more information about healthcare and retirement so they can make the best financial decisions for their families.

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