ACFA’s Focus
• We seek to promote the Biblical principles amongst our membership and also to help to train individuals within the industry to work with Churches and individual Christians.
• We aim to provide a fertile breeding ground for Christians wishing to enter in the industry and for those already in the industry to develop their skills and understanding further.
• We provide a platform for support and fellowship for all members through the ACFA Website’s member forum.
• Our annual conference is of key importance and is a wonderful opportunity to meet other Christians working in the Financial Services sector, to develop one’s understanding through biblical teaching and to encourage one another by friendship and mutual support.

ACFA’s outward focus – Marketing the Christian perspective
We believe that there has never been a greater need than at this time for individuals to know and understand what God has provided in His word as guidance for successful financial planning.
• We seek to market our members’ products and services to the general public via our Website’s member search facility.
• We are striving to become an increasingly significant voice to the media for our membership and to provide a Christian perspective on current financial affairs.

ACFA seeks to be many things to many people, but some of the key benefits of membership are:
• Support from and networking with other Christian financial advisers and related professionals throughout the U.K.
• Being part of a national Christian organisation that is becoming the Christian voice in finance within the U.K.
• A 'Find a Christian Financial Adviser' search facility upon the ACFA Website.
• A platform for promoting members' services to a wide audience.
• e-news updates from the Steering Group.
• A National annual conference (at extra cost) to meet other members for mutual support, professional development, encouragement and friendship.

If you wish to consider joining ACFA please Click Here

Amongst it’s various disciplines, ACFA has an overarching twin focus:

• Inward on its members

• Outward to the wider public

Inward on its members

We seek to provide practical support, prayer and fellowship for our members. This includes a primary focus on teaching and understanding biblical principles in financial planning and help with running a Christian business, particularly from a Biblical perspective. We also aim to be a key player in encouraging Christians into every part of the financial services industry.

Outward to the wider public

This Website provides members of the public with a search facility for finding a Christian finance professional to suit their specific needs. Our members come from many different disciplines. Just click on the job-title and you will be taken to a more detailed description of the services that are provided by each discipline with some useful background information:

Disciplines

Financial Advisors in general

Some advisers will concentrate on product sales and finding the most suitable product for a client, whilst others will focus more on planning, setting objectives and providing advice. However, each will probably end up helping with:

• Retirement planning and financial independence

• Saving for a specific purpose

• Investing

• Protecting

• Tax planning

• Mortgages and debt repayment

Each individual Financial Adviser must be authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to give advice.

Financial Advisers (Independent)

Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) will usually aim at providing holistic financial planning and when a product is required will select from those in the whole of the market. IFAs must go a stage further and always offer their client the option to pay for the advice they receive by fees.

Financial Advisers (Restricted)

Restricted advisers will be limited to provide you with a pre-selected range of products. The term Restricted may mean that an adviser restricts themselves to just one business area in which they can operate a Whole of Market model, or that they can only recommend products from certain providers.

Mortgage Advisers

Mortgage brokers can operate as Whole of Market or Restricted in the same way as Financial Advisers. The work they do is also authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is only available once certain threshold qualifications have been passed.

Fund Managers

Fund managers are responsible for implementing a fund's investment strategy and managing its trading activities. They can oversee mutual funds or investments in pensions, manage analysts, conduct research, and make important investment decisions.

ACFA is a not for profit organisation overseen by an Executive Chairman and a Council of Reference (otherwise known as the Steering Group). ACFA has an Administrator who is able to deal with administrative and membership issues.

If you wish to consider joining ACFA please do so by clicking here

What makes a Christian financial Advisor different to their non-Christian counterpart?

In essence a Christian adviser recognises that ‘the earth is the Lord's and everything in it’ and thus that everything we 'own' is, in effect, God's. We merely hold money and possessions on trust for Him. Christian advisers are not automatically more qualified, more ethical or "better" than their non Christian counterparts. But what they can claim is that they love God and try to put Him first in everything that they do. This makes them totally different to non-Christian advisers and this difference should add real value for the Christian client seeking to discern God's will for their finances.

ACFA encourages its members to use eight Biblical principles of financial management when working with Christian clients. These principles are:

• Ownership – God owns 100% of everything
• Integrity – Deal fairly with others
• Generosity – Give generously
• Planning – Plan ahead
• Budgeting – Spend less than you earn
• Borrowing and lending – Borrow cautiously
• Savings and investment – Establish a savings plan
• Provision for dependents – Make provision, be responsible

Please feel free to download and distribute the following expanded versions of these principles as widely as you wish, including the reasons behind our logo and how our members can become an active contributor.

Download Biblical Financial Planning Principles
(for consumers) - (for consumers) - PDF
Download Biblical Financial Planning Principle - (for consumers) - PDF short

All ACFA members have signed a statement professing their belief in:

1. There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

2. God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgement and is the ultimate owner of all things. 

3. The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour. 

4. Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the whole of humankind has been sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God's judgement and condemnation. 

5. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin; his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was buried, was raised bodily from death, and is now reigning over heaven and earth. 

6. We are all sinful human beings and can only be rescued from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin through the sacrificial death once and for all time of our representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between us and God. 

7. Those who trust in Christ are pardoned of all their sins and accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God's act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by our own efforts. 

8. The Holy Spirit alone enables us to turn to God from our sin and to trust in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in us when we have trusted in Christ’s saving work. He makes us increasingly Christ-like in character and behaviour and gives us power for our witness in the world. 

9. The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong. 

10. The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone.  Each of us will stand either pardoned and belonging to Christ, or under God’s condemnation. 

ACFA is a non-denominational organisation and has a membership that reflects a broad spectrum of Christian denominations and styles of worship.