Foundation · Principle 3 of 7
S3 — Eliminate High-Cost Liabilities
Build a complete inventory of every liability and its true annual cost, rank payoff priority using a documented method, pursue refinancing where responsible, adopt safeguards against new high-cost debt, and offer households a product-neutral, debt-free education pathway.
Seven Principles curriculum version 1.0 — author-review draft pending Leland Rubin's approval prior to publication. · Leland's Seven Stewardship Principles methodology, content, exercises and deliverables are created by Leland Rubin and remain in author-review draft pending his approval.
Official outcome
High-Cost Liability Elimination Plan
- Complete liability inventory listing every church debt, its balance, rate, term, collateral and true annual cost
- Payoff priority ranking using a documented rate, risk and ministry-impact method
- Record of refinancing or renegotiation attempts, outcomes and any lender correspondence
- Written policy restricting new high-cost borrowing without governing-board approval
- Household-facing debt-free pathway curriculum outline covering credit reports, utilization, payoff methods and predatory-lending avoidance
- Aggregated, de-identified summary of congregational high-cost debt patterns reported to leadership
- List of qualified referral partners for credit counseling, legal aid and tax guidance, reviewed for product-neutrality
- Gaps register listing every open liability, refinancing or education gap discovered during the module
- 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date
Suggested duration: 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time · Owner: Finance Director · Coach: Leland Rubin · Approval: Not submitted
Principle health
At riskBaseline 45 · no follow-up yet
Principle purpose
Suggested leadership time: About 7 hours of leadership time
S3 Eliminate High-Cost Liabilities exists to help both the church and the households it serves stop paying an ongoing tax to high-cost debt. Every dollar a church sends to a high-interest loan payment is a dollar that never reaches ministry, and every dollar a household sends to a payday loan or a maxed-out credit card is a dollar that never reaches savings, generosity, or a child's future. This module treats debt elimination as a stewardship discipline rather than a crisis response: it starts by naming every liability honestly, in the light, then prioritizes which balances to attack first using rate, risk and ministry impact rather than guesswork or whichever bill feels loudest, and finally builds the habits and safeguards that keep new high-cost debt from creeping back in.
By the end of this module, leadership will have produced a High-Cost Liability Elimination Plan that names every church liability and its true all-in cost, ranks payoff priority using a consistent method, documents refinancing and renegotiation options actually pursued, and lays out a congregation-facing debt-free pathway that equips households with the same discipline the church is applying to its own balance sheet. Household-level financial detail stays private to the household; church leaders review only de-identified, aggregated patterns when assessing congregational need.
Official outcome — High-Cost Liability Elimination Plan
Leadership will have inventoried every church liability with its true annual cost, ranked payoff priorities using a documented method, pursued at least one refinancing or renegotiation option, adopted safeguards against new high-cost debt, and approved a High-Cost Liability Elimination Plan with a 90-day action plan assigning named owners and dates, alongside a congregation-facing debt-free education pathway.
Deliverable component checklist
- 1. Complete liability inventory listing every church debt, its balance, rate, term, collateral and true annual cost
- 2. Payoff priority ranking using a documented rate, risk and ministry-impact method
- 3. Record of refinancing or renegotiation attempts, outcomes and any lender correspondence
- 4. Written policy restricting new high-cost borrowing without governing-board approval
- 5. Household-facing debt-free pathway curriculum outline covering credit reports, utilization, payoff methods and predatory-lending avoidance
- 6. Aggregated, de-identified summary of congregational high-cost debt patterns reported to leadership
- 7. List of qualified referral partners for credit counseling, legal aid and tax guidance, reviewed for product-neutrality
- 8. Gaps register listing every open liability, refinancing or education gap discovered during the module
- 9. 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date
Learning objectives and completion requirements
Learning objectives
- • Build a complete, accurate liability inventory with true all-in cost
- • Rank liabilities for payoff using rate, risk and ministry impact
- • Pursue refinancing or renegotiation on existing liabilities
- • Design a recurring, product-neutral debt-free education pathway
Completion requirements
- • All four lessons marked complete
- • All four exercises submitted
- • Required evidence uploaded
- • Named principal deliverable generated and approved
- • 90-day action plan created with owners and dates
- • Coach review recorded
Lessons
Four complete lessons. Each produces one named artifact for the official outcome.
Lesson 1 — Naming Every Liability and Its True Cost
Build a complete, accurate inventory of every church liability and calculate its true all-in annual cost. · 75 minutes · produces Complete Liability Inventory with true annual cost calculated for every debt
CompleteOpen full lessonLesson 2 — Prioritizing Payoff: Rate, Risk and Ministry Impact
Rank every liability for payoff priority using a documented method combining rate, risk and ministry impact. · 90 minutes · produces Payoff Priority Ranking using rate, risk and ministry-impact scoring
Not completeOpen full lessonLesson 3 — Refinancing, Renegotiating and Avoiding New High-Cost Debt
Pursue refinancing or renegotiation on existing liabilities and adopt safeguards that prevent new high-cost debt from being incurred. · 90 minutes · produces Refinancing and Renegotiation Comparison Log with a written new-debt approval policy
Not completeOpen full lessonLesson 4 — A Debt-Free Path for the Congregation
Design a recurring, product-neutral debt-free education pathway for households, with qualified referral partners for those in high-cost debt. · 90 minutes · produces Congregation Debt-Free Pathway Outline with referral partner list
Not completeOpen full lesson