Just before organizers of Minnesota's Lakeview Bank held their first meeting, in April 2003, three board members who were also members of a men's Bible study group proposed a group prayer.
The other five board members agreed, and that short prayer asking for God's guidance established the basis for what Lakeview Bank, in Lakeville, would become: a community bank with an emphasis on Christian values.
"That kind of set the tone and tenor of the meeting, and as time evolved and through its development we had a sense of being blessed," said Tom Mork, Lakeview's president and chief executive. The board still prays before each meeting, he said.
Lakeview, which opened in July, is one of at least three heavily Christian-influenced banks that have started up in the past two years. Another, New Dominion Bank in Charlotte, opened last week.
It is probably too early to call faith-based banking a trend, but these banks are gaining a fair share of attention. New Dominion was the subject of a three-part series in The Charlotte Observer, and Riverview Bank of Otsego, Minn., was recently featured in a New York Times Magazine cover story.
These banks appear to be winning over investors and customers. New Dominion raised $40 million before it opened its doors - a record for a North Carolina bank - and Lakeview raised $6 million in half the time it had allotted itself.
One of Riverview's first customers was a Minneapolis woman who believed in the bank so much that she deposited $1.5 million, said Chuck Ripka, a co-founder.
Mr. Ripka says that the success of Riverview and others is apparently encouraging other bankers to be more open about their Christian beliefs. He says he has talked with other bankers around the country about forming a Christian Bankers Association.
"Many bankers are feeling pulled that way in their own workplace, and want a way to express their faith," he said.
Riverview also practices what Mr. Ripka calls "marketplace ministry." Employees often pray with customers, especially in the drive-through, and there have been "dozens of healings" in the branch, said Mr. Ripka.
He said that God instructed him to build the bank and continues to guide him.
"The first day the bank opened up, the Lord spoke to me and told me that if I do all the things he wants me to do, he will take care of the bottom line," said Mr. Ripka, a former mortgage banker. "Secondly, he told me that there will be accelerated growth and that the secular world will take notice."
So far, Mr. Ripka's vision has come true. Riverview, which opened in March 2003 with capital of $5.5 million, started turning a profit after just a year of operation and now has $72 million of assets.
New Dominion attributes much of its success in attracting investors to its Christian focus. The bank raised the $40 million from 500 investors in just a couple of months.
"I think faith and values have a place in the workplace, and a lot of people are happy to have someone willing to say so," said Benjie Guion, New Dominion's chief financial and operating officer.
New Dominion's blending of Christianity and banking is less overt than Riverview's. Mr. Guion said that it is more about its employees' upholding Christian values and treating customers with respect, rather than evangelizing from the teller line.
"Our employees are not walking around with a Bible under their arm, but there is something different about the bank," said Mr. Guion, who left SouthTrust Corp. of Birmingham, Ala., just before it announced it was being sold to Wachovia Corp. of Charlotte.
Lakeview is similarly discreet in the workplace. Mr. Mork said that the Christianity at his bank comes through the employees' attitudes and their subtle expressions of faith.
All staff members sign a code of conduct that discourages behavior such as the use of foul language or harassing co-workers. "The bank isn't afraid to admit that it's a faith-based business," Mr. Mork said. "And I know that has helped us generate some business," including many non-Christian customers.
All these banks accept customers of all faiths and backgrounds, but Christians looking for a way to combine their faith and daily life make up the majority of their customers and employees.
J. Christopher Scott, the executive director of the Forum for Faith in the Workplace, Columbus, Ohio, said Americans have become more open about their faith in recent years and that more companies are encouraging them to express it.
"The workplace is a demanding and stressful experience in which we spend an incredible proportion of our waking life," Mr. Scott said. "And people are searching for ways to live holistically and take their personal faith professed on Sundays or Saturday and bring those values and ethics into the competitive workplace."
Though these banks stand out because Christian values are part of their business model, Mr. Scott said banks of all sizes have groups of Christian employees who meet regularly and are not afraid to express their faith at work. Mellon Financial Corp. in Pittsburgh, where he used to work, had such a group with about 150 people from all levels of the company, he said.
Mr. Scott said the more overt approach may not be a good idea in the long run. "If I was going to start a new bank, I would not do it that way, because I would want to reach out to the largest possible pool of customers," he said.
But Riverview's Mr. Ripka said he is confident his evangelical bank will thrive by attracting Christians from all over, largely because the Lord told him it would.
"He said that we are in slow-growth period now and that we haven't seen anything yet."
