Insurer’s Policies for Churchgoers Attract Christians

Diana Drees was taking her children to a home-school group at the family’s church when she swerved on an icy road and crashed her Nissan Altima into a fence.

Because she was on her way to a church function — and because she and her husband, David, held an insurance policy specifically for churchgoers — the $500 deductible for damage to the Aurora couple’s car was waived.

The Dreeses are part of a growing number of churchgoers signing up for FaithGuard insurance policies offered by West Des Moines, Iowa-based GuideOne Insurance.

The company was founded in the 1940s to offer lower insurance rates to people who don’t drink alcohol, according to its Web site. A year ago, it began offering special benefits for regular churchgoers.

In addition to waiving the deductible for accidents that occur on the way to or from a church activity, the company will double medical payments if the policyholders are injured in an accident while driving non-family members to or from church or a church function.

FaithGuard coverage also will contribute $750 toward tithing or church donations if the insured drivers are injured while traveling to church, and will make a $1,000 memorial donation if the driver or a family member is killed while en route to church.

Drees and her three children weren’t hurt in the March accident, but their car was totaled.

GuideOne — one of the largest insurers of churches — offers the FaithGuard program in 19 states, including Colorado.

The company said it is adding new FaithGuard policies at a rate of more than 160 per day. Some 800 people hold the policies in Colorado, spokeswoman Emily Abbas said.

“The popularity of FaithGuard is proving that Americans who attend church regularly also are in the market for insurance that understands their beliefs and needs,” Jim Wallace, president and chief executive of GuideOne Insurance, said in a release issued by the company.

The growing interest in FaithGuard policies comes at a time when other businesses are moving to target Christian audiences. Two phone directories of Christian businesses — the Shepherd’s Guide and Christian Business Directory — recently reported rapid growth in the Colorado market.

Time magazine reports that 88 million Americans call themselves born-again Christians, and the number of Christian-owned businesses is estimated at more than half a million. The market for Christian retail products reached $4.34 billion last year.

GuideOne markets its products to “all people of faith,” but the largest group of customers has been evangelical Christians, said Gary Brunson, a GuideOne agent in Northglenn.

Brunson’s office advertises FaithGuard policies on KRKS-FM, a Denver-area Christian radio station. The company also makes posters available to churches that want to display them.

“A lot of our business is coming from referrals,” he said.

The Drees family discovered GuideOne when David, an information-technology professional for Kingdom Building Ministries in Aurora, served on a committee that was reviewing insurance policies for his former church.

He was drawn to the company’s personal insurance lines largely because of the values they represented — such as not drinking alcohol. The prices were also competitive, he said.

“If their prices were too high, I would not have switched over,” said Drees, 36.

FaithGuard also offers a homeowners policy that doubles payments for injuries that occur while the policyholder is hosting a church activity at home.

To receive GuideOne’s nondrinker discount on an auto policy, customers must sign a statement verifying that they do not drink. The policy will be revoked if customers are in an accident in which they are found to have been drinking, Abbas said.

As a rule, the company does not ask FaithGuard policyholders to prove they were on their way to church, she said, but the company will look into it when investigating the claim.

“If it was 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, and they say they were coming home from church, we might be a little bit suspicious,” Abbas said.

Of the 75 claims that have been filed since FaithGuard was launched, none has sparked worries of fraud, she said.