Plans for Lay Employees

Find out more about the retirement plans, insurance and health plans offered specifically to Global Methodist Church® staff members.

Retirement Plans

Alongside Global Methodist Church, GuideStone® is excited to offer a unique retirement plan for church staff members. The plan is offered as part of GM Church’s commitment to a secure retirement investment platform for churches, clergy members, staff and missionaries and is now available to all churches in the GM Church network.

GuideStone is one of the nation’s largest providers of employee benefits and financial services, working with more than 23,000 ministry partners and offering retirement plans customized to help employees reach their individual financial goals.

GuideStone Offers:

  • Faith-based Investments: GuideStone offers a comprehensive lineup of investment strategies that integrate Christian values with fundamental investment analysis.
  • 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.
  • Advisory Services: We offer a range of financial planning services, tailored investment strategies and ongoing investment management for those looking for a higher level of service.
  • Targeted Educational Resources: Access informative and timely employee resources such as life-stage resources. Employees can find personalized tools in their MyGuideStone® accounts.
GuideStone Retirement Overview

FAQs

Who is eligible?
Employee eligibility is determined by the church.
What types of costs are associated with the retirement plan?
There is no cost to establish the retirement plan.
 
The Investor Share Class of each Select Fund pays shareholder servicing and recordkeeping fees of 0.25% of average daily assets to GuideStone as an entity that provides services for and maintains records for shareholder accounts. This fee is included as part of the Net Annual Operating Expenses of each fund.
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.
What do standard plan provisions include?
  • Generally, 100% vesting on all contributions
  • Unlimited hardship withdrawal per plan year for participants less than age 59½ (must meet IRS requirements as a hardship)
  • Unlimited in-service withdrawals per plan year for participants who are at least age 59½
  • Retirement income options of a single sum or systematic withdrawal distributions after termination from service
  • One outstanding plan loan
How do I get started?

Are you interested in learning more about GuideStone Retirement? Please email Curtis.Farmer@GuideStone.org and include the church name-GM Church in the email subject.

Insurance and Health Plans

GuideStone® believes that 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 Global Methodist Church has access to a variety of Christian health plans, life insurance options and other benefit solutions 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 care needs. Designed with Christian values in mind, our plans have built-in features — like nationwide networks and Member Experience Specialists — so 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 insurance products.

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

GuideStone Health Plans

Types of Products Available:

Health Plans
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
icon graphic of a family
Term Life Insurance
Accident (AD&D) Insurance
Disability Insurance
Who is eligible?

All Global Methodist Church non-clergy members 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 Global Methodist Church.
  • Learn more about how to enroll in GuideStone Personal Plans.

How do I get started?

Are you interested in learning more about GuideStone insurance and health plans? Please email Curtis.Farmer@GuideStone.org and include the church name-GM Church in the email subject.

See more of what GuideStone offers.

Get Started

We would be happy to discuss the specific needs of your church and staff. Complete the below, and we'll be in touch with you soon!

What are you interested in learning more about?