Membership is open to all Christian men, women and children. There are over 38,000 LCBA members in 28 states and the District of Columbia. As a fraternal, the LCBA provides life insurance and annuity coverage, plus a wide variety of benefits to our members. Insurance operations at the LCBA provide financial support that is needed for matching funds and other fraternal benefits.

Everyone who holds an LCBA annuity or insurance certificate becomes a benefit member. "Associate" members pay annual dues of $5 and participate in regular branch activities, but they do not hold an LCBA policy. Two dollars from each member's dues are returned to his or her branch.

Please visit the links above to learn more about our association and the advantages of membership. As a life insurance provider, the LCBA maintains licenses in certain states across the U.S. For a list of states we are licensed in and other vital information about our coverage, please visit our forms page.

What is a Fraternal?

Like commercial life and health insurers, fraternal benefit societies offer insurance products and are chartered in accordance with state insurance laws. From there the differences are significant. Although each society is unique, under law all must:

The Fraternal Benefit System

Ten million men, women and children belong to the more than 200 fraternal benefit societies in the United States today, with various ethnic, religious and vocational backgrounds. The system provides a unique opportunity for societies to be responsive to the needs and desires of their members.

Fraternals maintain some of the world's largest private systems of scholarships and other educational support, providing more than $11 million annually for students and the institutions they attend. Fraternals support and maintain orphanages, homes for the aged, churches, and other humanitarian, service and social institutions and agencies. They provide financial and other support for the indigent, the dying and others needing a helping hand. They give material and financial support to the stricken and homeless who are victims of floods, tornadoes, fires and other disasters.

In one year's time members volunteer more than 25 million hours to help people in need. Fraternalists annually provide 13,700 scholarships with a value of $4.6 million. From launching a volunteer fire department in Kansas or emergency ambulance service in Pennsylvania to conducting a dinner in Ohio to help a cancer victim overcome burdensome medical bills; these are all examples of a strong investment in our present and our future, fraternalists at work.

Fraternal benefit societies are a unique mix of business and volunteerism. Their mission is to help their members help themselves and others through insurance and benevolent activities.