Photos: O.M.G: Fact

It really does pay to go to church.

After a Chicago parish was bought out of a multi-income residential development it helped fund in the 1970s, it came into some money - to the tune of $1.6 million.

And in deciding what to do with the unexpected fortune, pastor Laura Truax, of LaSalle Street Church in Gold Coast, decided to donate 10 percent of it to her own congregants.

All 300 of them.

In dividing up the $160,000 evenly, Truax worked out it was easiest to give each of her loyal regulars $500, and set about writing personal checks.

'In that moment, I was worried this is stupid, this is silly,' Truax told WGNTV.

'People will think I'm squandering $160,000.

'And I didn't want to be known as the person who squandered $160,000 and so I was nervous about that.

'But I felt like this was the place of faith.'

'It felt right.'

So on September Pastor Laura, as she is known, announced to the church that it was actually them who would receive a donation.

'Some started to cry,' she said.

'Their mouths started to drop. I started to sweat because it sounded so crazy.'

Pastor Laura told her congregants to do whatever they believed was right in the money, be that investment, helping others or helping themselves.

Members started a board at the non-denomination church where they could right down some ideas on how best to use the $500.

There is still $1.4 million that the church itself will donate or invest.

However pastor Laura said she really hopes her decision will inspire other churches.

'My real hope is that other churches will hear about this and they're going will swallow and they're going to jump.

'Find some way in them that we found and that they're going to jump with their people.'

LaSalle Street Church owned a 15 percent stake in Atrium Village, a 309-unit residential development in nearby Near North Side.

According to DNA Info, British Columbia-based company Omni Group acquired the site in June as part of a $50 million buyout.

The church came out with $1.6 million.