In Germany, SKB bank finances Free Church building projects. ‘Building churches together’ is the motto of the institution, which has supported more than 100 projects.
Immanuelskirche, in Bochum, is on of the church building projects financed by the SKB bank / Immanuelskirche Bochum
In Germany, the Savings and Credit Bank of Evangelical Free Churches (Spar- und Kreditbank Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden – SKB) finances exclusively Free Church building projects. Anyone, however, can save with the bank.
It is a member of the financial syndicate of Volks- and Raiffeisen banks.
After 35 years on the Board, Wolfgang Klotz (65) was given a farewell on his retirement by the SKB at their general assembly near Bad Homburg (Hessen, Germany). He worked for the bank for 43 years, from 1987 as Chairman of the Board.
The bank belongs to the Union of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany (Bund Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden – BEFG: Baptist and Brethren churches) and works under the motto ‘Building churches together’.
The departmental head in charge of the Association of Co-operatives in Frankfurt, Lothar Engels, awarded Klotz with the silver badge of honour, one of the highest accolades of the association. According to Engels, who checks the bank’s accounts every year, the SKB was ‘in rude health’ and Klotz was leaving behind ‘a house in very good order’.
SKB bank.“LIVING OUT A SPIRITUAL CALLING”
The federal treasurer of the Federation of Pentecostal Churches (Bundes Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden – BFP), Martin Stötzel, declared that Klotz had not only practised a profession but he had lived out a spiritual calling.
For him it had always been a matter of investing money in such a way that the Kingdom of God would be built. Since 2005 the SKB has also been financing projects beyond the BEFG.
101 PROJECTS SUPPORTED
As Klotz explained in his final Board report, in 2014 the SKB approved 14.8 million euros as new loans, above all for building projects in churches.
In this way 60 congregations in the BEFG and 41 congregations belonging to other Free Churches were given support. The earnings of the expired financial year were satisfactory in view of the period of low interest rates.
BANK HAS “SPIRITUAL OBJECTIVE”
Board member Elke Müller was inaugurated as Klotz’s successor. Both were prayed for with the laying on of hands. Müller emphasised the spiritual objective of the bank through a remarkable initiative.
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