Lending initiatives run by faith-based organizations are shifting the way churches approach charity and creating a new alternative to payday lenders and pawn shops. The programs offer parishioners who have fallen deep into debt with payday lenders a low-interest path to repayment. The Virginia United Methodist Church's Jubilee Assistance Fund offers collateral so borrowers can qualify for a loan through the Virginia United Methodist Credit Union. Loans offered through the program have annualized interest rates as low as 6 percent. The program is still quite small  -- just 14 loans from $500 to $8,800 in seven and a half years. But similar programs are developing in pockets across the country including Wisconsin, Texas, Missouri and Louisiana.