Church leaders across Britain will be able to receive help in raising cash for new buildings thanks to a Christian bank which has launched an exclusive mortgage range especially for them.

Church Mortgages Direct, from Kingdom Bank, will help churches buy and build premises - something high street banks have often refused to help fund.

Under the scheme, launched earlier this month, money collected through the donation plate from church congregations each week will be considered as valid income on which to base their loans.

Church Mortgages Direct said it would also be able to consider financing church-backed social action projects which could help meet any property investment needs, such as extensions or new builds for schemes such as drug rehabilitation or homeless centres.

The new church mortgage initiative contrasts with recent developments in the British property markets. The Bank of England alarmed many homeowners by raising interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a six-year high of 5.75 per cent, the fifth increase since last August.

Deputy Chief Executive Chris Sheldon said, "We speak the same language as churches and we know what they need. We can do our best to make it affordable, rather than just asking the church to justify how they will pay back the money like a normal bank would do.

"Instead of a church having to wait years to save up £1million, we can make it happen within a few months. It will be the same as when you get a mortgage on a house, so the church will enjoy the benefits while still paying for it."

"We want to make the church grow - that's our priority. Any profit comes secondary to that. This new brand should mean that ideas won't stay as ideas, but they will become realities."

Launched in May at the Christian Resources Exhibition, Church Mortgages Direct is the operating name for Kingdom Bank Ltd, an independent Christian organisation based in the UK. Kingdom Bank Ltd is wholly-owned by a UK charity and donates 20 per cent of its operating profits annually to Christian charities.