"It's a remarkable accomplishment to maintain an 'A-plus' rating for 50 years," Gov. McCallum said. "Financial solvency is the most important customer service that an insurer can provide. Customers need to know that their insurer will have the resources to pay a claim, should the need arise."

Commissioner O'Connell said Church Mutual employees should be proud that their company is the only property-casualty insurer in Wisconsin with this track record.

"It's a record that comes from being a mutual company that understands what it means to be a mutual company," she said. "To be owned by its policyholders and to act like you are owned by your policyholders, Church Mutual embodies the spirit and intent of mutuality in their policyholder service and relationships."

Gerald Whitburn, the insurer's president and chief executive officer, accepted the commendations from the state officials on behalf of the company's employees.

"It comes down to just one thing--a group of very focused employees demanding excellence of themselves over an extended period of time," Mr. Whitburn said. "If anything has ever validated the unique, long-term, exceptional quality of Church Mutual's operations this certainly is it. Now the challenge for us is to keep it. Attaining the 'Superior' rating is more difficult every year."

In a letter to Mr. Whitburn recently, Arthur Snyder, A.M. Best's president and chairman, said only three companies have held the "Superior" rating consistently over the last 50 years.

"During the past 50 years we have assigned Best's rating to an average of 2,800 property-casualty companies per year," Mr. Snyder wrote. "Only one-tenth of 1 percent of these companies have held our 'A-plus' rating consecutively during that half-a-century period."

Founded in 1897 by two pastors and a handful of local businessmen, Church Mutual today insures more than 81,000 worship centers and religious-related institutions. The company also offers property and liability coverage in the senior-living market. In 2002, sales at Church Mutual will increase to more than $350 million and assets will top the $580 million mark.

Church Mutual employs 458 workers in the home office and 251 workers in its 40 field offices across the United States.