Church Mortgage Burning Services

Celebration

For many churches, the monthly mortgage payment is one of their biggest expenses. It takes a lot of generous donations and tenacity to pay off the mortgage for a church building, and since the majority of churches rely solely on tithes and donations from the congregation, a mortgage getting paid off is a big deal. Although some churches choose to quietly pay off their mortgages without much hoopla, other churches decide to recognize the achievement with a special mortgage burning celebration. The formality of the service depends largely on the church, but the end result is always setting the mortgage note on fire while the congregation celebrates the end to mortgage payments.

Church Mortgage Burning Services Examples

Whether church mortgage burning services are combined with regular services or are held apart, the common theme of these celebrations is that of happiness because the church doesn't have to worry about mortgage payments anymore. While some places of worship have church mortgage burning services which are informal and fun, other churches hold ceremonies which rival regular worship services.

• Informal: These services will include lots of cheering, laughter, and perhaps even singing and dancing to accompanying the burning of the mortgage. These services are sometimes slipped into the regular worship celebration, or instead may be a service all their own.
• Formal: Sometimes included within the regular worship, the church leaders will make the process of burning the mortgage quite ceremonial complete with all the usual accoutrements of worship. Clergy members lead the service with prayers, a sermon, and perhaps songs as well.

Not every church celebrates the completion mortgage payments in such an overt way. Many churches pay of the mortgage and do not acknowledge the accomplishment in a public way. Much of the method of celebration (or lack thereof) is influenced by the church itself. Simply put, congregations are not going to severely deviate from their usual demeanor to celebrate paying off a mortgage.

Your Own Celebration

Families and individuals may want to follow suit and have their own mortgage burning ceremony when their mortgage loan is paid in full. After all, most people pay their mortgages for many years, and when mortgage debt is finally paid in full it seems logical to recognize the event with a happy celebration. Here are a couple of things you should keep in mind before getting the merriment under way:

• Check with your lender before you consider your loan paid in full. Simply sending the final check does not necessarily guarantee that your loan is paid off. Finding out that you still owe some money on the mortgage, even if it is only a couple of dollars, can make the mortgage burning much less significant.
• Don't burn the original documents pertaining to your mortgage. You should instead burn copies as a symbolic gesture. Always keep the original mortgage documents locked away securely as long as you own the home because you never know when you may need to refer back to this paperwork.
• No matter how excited you are about burning your mortgage, always keep safety in mind. It would be a shame to burn down the house you just paid off because you were so jubilant in your celebration that the flames engulfed the whole house.

The End to Mortgage Payments

Paying off a mortgage is certainly a reason to celebrate, especially if the mortgage is paid off earlier than it was originally amortized for. Churches that rely heavily upon extra donations from members in order to pay off their mortgage early can celebrate not only having the mortgage being paid off, but also the fact that the members in the church care enough to give.