LLL NZ set to close

After more than 70 years of providing financial services and funding support to Lutheran church members and congregations in New Zealand, the Lutheran Laymen’s League of NZ Inc (LLL NZ) is set to close.

Formed in May 1948 as a separate entity to LLL Australia, which was established in 1921, the Board of LLL NZ has voted to begin the wind-up process and is returning remaining unclaimed funds.

LLL NZ President Jill Hobden said the LLL in New Zealand had ‘a proud history of supporting our congregations to provide buildings and activities they could not otherwise afford without access to the LLL’s funds’.

‘The current challenging regulatory climate is driving smaller entities such as ours to take a long hard look at whether they can sustain ever-escalating compliance costs’, she said.

Ms Hobden said some similar small Christian finance entities had joined forces with Christian Savings, originally established as Baptist Savings in 1962. She said the Lutheran Church of New Zealand (LCNZ) would buy shares in the now non-denominational organisation for the benefit of the church, using some of the remaining funds of the LLL NZ.

‘Some of our remaining funds will be used by the LCNZ to purchase shares in Christian Savings and thereby gain access to a range of benefits for our congregations, including property development advice and funding at reasonable rates with low fees for longer terms.’