The rule of thumb is that any manageable, mission-driven, capital debt should cost no more than 20% to maybe 25% (in a really vital church) of your annual budget. In other words, debt service to pay interest and principal should never be more than 20-25%. On the other hand, any truly mission-driven debt that costs less than 5-7% of your annual budget for service should be manageable simply by the stewardship of your spiritually growing adults.

So … if you think that your total mission-driven debt will cost more than 5-7% of your annual budget to service, forget about just borrowing from the bank or denomination. Hire a professional. Even after you pay them their fee, you will still net more money than if you did it on your own.

What if your anticipated debt is a maintenance-driven debt, rather than a mission-driven debt? Never let a maintenance-driven debt take more than 15% of your total annual budget. People are much less motivated to give to maintenance-driven causes. And if that anticipated debt is over 3-5% of your budget, don’t just borrow from the bank. Hire a professional.