To North Carolina Baptist churches seeking to apply for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program provided by the CARES Act of 2020:

We know that these have been strange days for those of us engaged in ministry through the local church. We understand that the amount of information and misinformation being communicated from multiple sources has been overwhelming. Where do we turn? What do we do? How do we survive?

Let me answer those questions for you: 1. We turn to Jesus! 2. We pray! 3. We choose not to survive, but to thrive for the sake of His kingdom!

We believe that God has placed your convention staff here to serve as a resource to help you through these days. To that end, we want to provide you with the best information and ministry tools available to keep His churches doing what He called us to do — proclaim the gospel with the life-changing message of Jesus and make disciples who can carry that message to others.

In many cases, that requires finances to pay staff, pay for overhead costs, provide for physical needs in our communities and more. And we know that with churches being unable to gather for worship, those finances get strained.

Most of our churches would benefit by taking advantage of the portion of the 2020 CARES Act recently signed into law that allows churches and other small businesses to apply for loans that can be converted into grants if the funds are used for approved purposes, which include payroll costs, utilities, interest on debt and other items.

We want to help you navigate this process by providing you with a step-by-step guide to the process. We encourage our churches to do this now! The funds for this program will be allocated very quickly, and there is no guarantee that Congress will appropriate additional funds in future legislation. So, if you are interested in applying for a Paycheck Protection Loan, click the link below, and let us guide you through the process.

Paycheck protection loans: Step-by-step instructions for churches

John Butler
Executive Leader, Business Services
Baptist State Convention of North Carolina