You are here: Home > News > The Harvest November/December 2006 > St. David's insurance

Good insurance will help St. David's rebuild

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

	The narthex of St. David's, Topeka, was heavily damaged by fire, smoke and water. Good coverage by the Church Insurance Company will help the parish rebuild.

When disaster strikes a church, members want to know there is enough insurance to make things right. St. David’s, Topeka, has learned, thanks to their policy with Church Insurance Company of Vermont, that’s exactly what will happen.

All churches in the diocese (except one in southeast Kansas) are insured through Church Insurance, according to Paul Stephens, vice president of client services. And because they only insure Episcopal churches and related property, they’re poised to be of special help in cases like the fire that struck St. David’s.

Stephens said replacement values were assigned to all insured properties in 2002. Each church has coverage at that amount, but if something would cause rebuilding costs to go above that they don’t have to worry — a diocesan blanket policy then kicks in.

With that, the values of all the insured properties are added up, totaling nearly $94 million for the Diocese of Kansas. Should any one church have costs exceeding the value of their base policy, they still are covered up to the total amount of the diocesan policy.

“St. David’s doesn’t have to worry about anything,” Stephens said. They’re able to do that, he said, because the company specializes. “All we insure are Episcopal churches, not Pizza Huts and doughnut shops,” he said.

They also know that churches routinely contain things like pipe organs, stained glass windows and statues and automatically include those items in its coverage. They also work with specialists who know how to care for damaged church goods, including restoration and cleaning companies.

Stephens said Church Insurance offers parishes far better coverage than they can get from the general insurance market. If they didn’t, he said, “the Episcopal Church wouldn’t need to own an insurance company.”

Stephens said the company exists to make life easier for Episcopal churches, vestries and members. The policy coverage means it’s virtually impossible for a building to be underinsured for a covered property claim. “It’s sleep-at-night insurance,” he said.