A fridge on terms, a bed on hire purchase, a television on a store card: small monthly payments can add up to a heavy yoke. Isaiah’s promise of a broken yoke speaks to households carrying it.

Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Pascagoula, Mississippi, founded in 1895 as Aimwell Baptist Church, held a mortgage-burning service to celebrate becoming debt-free, a milestone its 91-year-old pastor greeted with thanks.

A planned $8 million sale of Covenant Baptist Church in DeKalb County, Georgia, fell through after a lender’s $2.5 million in bridge funding was used to pay off the church’s mortgage. A judge ruled the church owed the money; it appealed.

Four Seventh-day Adventist churches in Arizona paid off their building mortgages within a single year in 2024, through donations, fundraising and careful financial management, freeing money once spent on repayments for ministry and community service.

A New Hampshire executive pastor was jailed for 18 months after taking about US$130,000 from Journey Baptist Church over three years through unauthorised withdrawals and church credit card purchases to pay gambling debts.

Tallahassee’s Northwoods Church, down from 1,200 to 140 members, sought to rezone and sell 30 acres to pay off $1.1 million of debt, while neighbours objected to extra traffic on Capital Circle.

Highland Oaks Church of Christ in Dallas sold its building for more than its $1.9 million debt, and Rochester Church of Christ in Michigan sold to Rochester University for $2.25 million while keeping use of space.

A New York appeals court refused to undo the tax lien foreclosure sale of property owned by Eglise Baptiste De La Communion Fraternelle, even though the church’s pastor had agreed a payment plan with the city after judgment.

National Capital Presbytery sold one camp to a homebuilder, borrowed millions to develop a 358-acre replacement, then found itself paying about $70,000 a month in debt. A pastor who lived through it sets out the lessons.