Church Properties Become a Burden to Church Hierarchies
2×2 points to a recently reposted article about closed Philadelphia churches.
Tons of property now stand empty in the greater Philadelphia region.
Episcopal Bishop Bennison says, Where is the Gospel in this?
Good question, Bishop Bennison. The question should have been asked long ago!
The article deals with the stones and mortar problem church leaders are facing.
It barely mentions the lives of the people who have been affected.
The Church misplaced its priorities long ago. They point to a changing economy and demographics. Where were the experts on change when the changes were happening?
The neglect of God’s people is the real problem.
Most of the church leaders quoted in this article are from Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions where church property is owned by the denomination.
One person quoted in this article, Bishop Claire Burkat, comes from the Lutheran tradition, where property belongs to the congregations. Her actions, in one neighborhood (East Falls) defied the rules of the church she serves. Courts have refused to hear the case the congregation brought. They want churches to settle their own problems, citing separation of church and state.
The Church does not have a good record of solving its own problems!
Now, they, like the hierarchies modern Lutheran leaders emulate, have a problem. They have successfully acquired property they cannot support or have any use for! Each denomination is competing for few willing buyers.
Costs are rarely discussed openly. This article states the realistic cost as $55,000 per property. No figure like this appears in the regional Lutheran church budget!
The real problem began years ago. The Church fled neighborhoods and considered the people left behind or newly moving into those neighborhoods as demographically unsuitable for their investment in ministry. They paid experts a lot of money to support their decisions.
They sought short-term solutions that would one day be someone else’s problem—presumably the laity’s.
They routinely, assigned part-time, minimal effort, caretaker pastors to see how long they might keep money flowing without actually ministering to the community.
Reliance on demographic studies is not helpful. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America analyzed Philadelphia’s demographics and found only one zip code in the city worthy of mission investment—Chinatown.
Eventually, they officially quit trying and started helping congregations close. Initially, in the Lutheran Church, they allowed the congregations to dispose of their assets as is Lutheran law. But regional bodies were struggling, too. They started imposing new “rules” which would make the assets of congregations go to them. Any such new rules are in defiance of the ELCA Articles of Incorporation and cannot be changed by fickle, expedient bylaws. Only Redeemer is challenging this, although the practice will one day affect many.
The plan is backfiring. Even suburban churches face serious challenges.
Regional bodies are looking for any way to put properties they now manage to work. They would rather work with hot dog vendors and theater troupes than people in the neighborhoods who profess the same faith.
It’s time to start looking at more than property. 2×2 will examine the more important question.
What happens to the people and neighborhoods when churches close?