Charis Fellowship

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Charis Fellowship

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We understand your ministry.
We understand employee benefits.
And we share your passion for the Gospel.

That’s why GuideStone® and Charis Fellowship® have teamed up to support your calling and offer faith-based retirement solutions, health plans and other coverages uniquely designed for your ministry.

Learn More

GuideStone offers extensive solutions designed to provide support, guidance and protection. Explore our offerings below.

Retirement
Health Plans and Other Coverages
Additional Resources
What We Offer

Alongside Charis Fellowship, GuideStone is excited to offer a differentiated retirement plan for church staff members. The plan is offered as part of Charis Fellowship's commitment to a secure retirement investment platform for churches, pastors, staff and missionaries and is now available to all churches in the Charis Fellowship network.

GuideStone provides employee benefits and financial services to churches, ministries and related organizations, working with more than 24,000 ministry partners to offer retirement plans designed to help employees reach their individual financial goals.

  • Faith-based Investments: GuideStone sponsors the nation’s largest1 faith-based mutual fund family — GuideStone Funds® — which provides you with investment options that align with your values.
  • Ministers’ Tax Benefits: GuideStone offers a 403(b)(9) church retirement plan, allowing distributions as housing allowance in retirement for employees who qualify as Ministers for Tax Purposes.
  • GuideStone financial consultants2: GuideStone provides one‑on‑one appointments through virtual video or phone to review your retirement account and receive guidance, education, and personalized, actionable steps to support your financial security and resilience.
  • Targeted Educational Resources: Access informative and timely employee resources. Employees can find personalized tools in their MyGuideStone® accounts.
  • "Kingdom class" customer service: Our customer solutions specialists are also available by phone or email Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT to assist you in secure, knowledgeable conversations.
Who is eligible?
  • All churches in the Charis Fellowship family are eligible to participate in the 403(b)(9) plan.
  • Employee eligibility is determined by the church.
What types of costs are associated with the retirement plan?
  • There is no cost to the church to establish the retirement plan.
  • There will be a quarterly comprehensive plan servicing fee assessed to the member in the amount of 0.0625% of the member’s total account balance (equating to 0.25% annually). For example, if the member’s account balance at the end of the quarter is $1,000, the amount deducted from the member’s account will be $0.625.
  • There is a quarterly investment advisory fee paid to Winona Wealth Management assessed to the member in the amount of 0.05% (equating to 0.20% annually). For example, if the member’s account balance at the end of the quarter is $1,000, the amount deducted from the member’s account will be approximately $0.50.
What kind of contributions can be made?
  • Contributions can be made by the employer, employee or both.
  • Salary-reduced contributions by the employee can be made as tax-sheltered or Roth (After-tax contributions).
What do standard plan provisions include?
  • 100% vesting on all contributions regardless of years of service
  • One hardship withdrawal per plan year for participants less than age 59½ (must meet IRS requirements as a hardship)
  • In-service withdrawal per plan year for participants who are at least age 59½
  • Distribution options of a single sum or systematic withdrawal payments after termination from service
  • One outstanding plan loan
  • Spousal consent is not required for beneficiary designations or distribution transactions (including loans)
How do I get started?

Step 1: Request your church's plan documents or ask any additional questions by booking an appointment or emailing Zac Rodgers

Step 2: After plan document completion, you will receive information in order to enroll eligible participants to begin employee contributions via the GuideStone Employer Access® Program (EAP).

Why GuideStone Health Plans and Other Coverages?

GuideStone believes when the body of Christ is healthy, it’s free to transform the world — and we want to help guide and equip your ministry to do just that. With GuideStone, your church has access to a variety of Christian health plans and other coverages, such as life, vision, dental, accident and disability plans designed for ministries like yours.

What We Offer

We offer a variety of both group and personal health plan designs to match your budget to your health plan needs. Designed with Christian values in mind, our plans have built-in features — like nationwide networks and Member Experience Specialists — so that you can steward your ministry dollars well.

To round out your benefits package and offer your employees peace of mind, we also offer other essential coverages that ministries can add to their products.

With GuideStone, dental, vision, life, accident and disability coverage may be more cost-effective than you think!

Who is eligible?

All churches in the Charis Fellowship family are eligible to participate in GuideStone coverage.

  • To qualify for GuideStone Group Plans, employers with two or more covered employees must contribute a minimum of 50% of the employee-only cost of medical coverage. Employees may participate in a GuideStone group health plan if they work 20 or more hours per week and are paid, full-time employees of an eligible church, agency, or institution affiliated with, or sharing common religious bonds with, the Southern Baptist Convention.
  • An individual is eligible to participate in GuideStone Personal Plans if he or she is a paid employee of an eligible church that is a part of the Charis Fellowship family and works 20 or more hours per week.
How do I get started?
  • Ready to get started with GuideStone health plans and other coverages? Get a quote.
Ministerial Resources Center

Watch videos on financial education and find articles on how to handle ministerial taxes.

Life-Stage Resources

Find key financial resources by life stage to help you start well, stay well and finish well.

Financial Checklist

Use this checklist to navigate financial needs for you and your church, especially if you’re a new pastor or at a new church.

Learning Library

Browse our learning library to learn the latest industry insights for retirement, investments, health plans and more.

Get Started

See how GuideStone can help enhance the financial security and resilience of your ministry.

Retirement

Email Zac.Rodgers@GuideStone.org
Health Plans and Other Coverages

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1 As of March 31, 2026, GuideStone Funds has $22.6 billion in assets, which makes GuideStone Funds® the nation’s largest faith-based mutual fund family. No other faith-based fund family exceeds GuideStone Funds in asset size.

2 GuideStone financial consultants provide financial education and do not provide investment advice. Financial consultants are not investment advisor representatives licensed or registered by or with any state or the SEC.

There can be no guarantee that any strategy (risk management or otherwise) will be successful. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal.

Funds invested in accordance with the faith-based investment restrictions of GuideStone Financial Resources may not be able to take advantage of certain investment opportunities due to these restrictions, which may adversely affect investment performance.

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