It’s been 18 years since I’ve lived in my home state of Texas. I’ve had wonderful experiences serving a church in Florida, leading a non-profit, and serving a historic congregation in Georgia. Yet you know what they say…you can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy. So, in honor of my roots, I’ve been honing my abilities and practicing the Texas two-step. Thankfully, the practice is not happening on the dance floor but in church leadership.
As we continue changing congregational life, many churches find themselves with too large and expensive property for the current congregation. The facts speak to this reality. Mark Eldson, the author of Gone for Good: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition, is one of several experts who say that by 2030, over 100,000 church properties will be sold or re-purposed. In addition, 1/3 of the properties will cease to be churches. While each situation is unique, I propose a two-step strategy in regard to church properties.
The first step is to be honest about our situation. How many rooms or buildings sit empty for most, if not all, days and weeks? What are the financial resources required to provide maintenance and upkeep for the spaces? These are just a couple of the questions that can be asked as we think about our facilities. For many congregations, the answer is that we have empty rooms and buildings, and we are paying a significant price in maintenance, or we are deferring maintenance for another day. Some congregations will need to consider selling properties that no longer serve the congregation’s mission. It must be recognized that the prospect of selling or repurposing space can be deeply painful for the church. Oftentimes, these spaces were where children attended Sunday School or places where numerous Sunday School classes gathered. Imagining changing these spaces creates an enormous amount of grief for many. For some, it feels like the congregation has failed, which, in most cases, is inaccurate and false.
Faced with grief and loss, it is important that we introduce the “second step” in this delicate dance. Some property sales are a prelude for the church to close, but most are not. The second step for congregational leadership is to envision how transitioning property can facilitate growth. In the face of loss, what can be gained?
For one congregation, it simply means tabulating how much growth the remaining facilities can accommodate. For another, it’s choosing mission-compatible partners from a long list of organizations.
The bottom line is we must take the first step in recognizing grief and loss while not forgetting the second step….we are people of hope.
The Center for Healthy Churches and PneuMatrix have consultants with experience to help your congregation discern the future. Our process is a phase of spiritual discernment where members collectively listen to the Holy Spirit’s guidance for the years ahead.
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