Cornerstone and Credits Help Church Go Solar

St. John’s Evangelical United Church of Christ in Collinsville, Illinois, is a mission-minded church with numerous programs helping the community with youth development, food distribution, and an adult daycare. To help the church save money on electricity bills and instead put that funding toward their other missions, the congregation decided to put solar panels on the church building’s roof.

NEED

St. John's UCC saw its electricity bills rising rapidly and decided that solar panels would be the way to lower those monthly costs. "Every church struggles with its budget. Our cost for electricity over a year was $42,000!" said Joy Honegger of St. John's UCC.

CALLING

St. John's UCC is called to extensive mission work in their community -- which is a low-income neighborhood on the east side of St. Louis. "Being able to use the money saved by solar power for something else that is mission driven was a real attraction," said Honegger.

God Math

Thanks to two Illinois clean energy credit programs and a $395,00 Creation Care loan from the Cornerstone Fund, St. John’s UCC installed its solar panels in early 2025 and officially turned them on in the spring of 2025. The solar now accounts for 95% of their power and has lowered their monthly bills by more than $1,800 every month.

 

“It was great to have a lender like the Cornerstone Fund who could help us navigate through all the federal and state programs. We were very impressed. The Cornerstone Fund was so accommodating and able to meet a very aggressive timeline. We were very appreciative!”

– Joy Honegger, former St. John’s UCC council president and the congregation’s solar project lead.