Throughout America, church buildings are either being sold and demolished, or replaced by Islamic mosques, Jewish synagogues, Hindu temples, and in many cases even private residences, non-profit organizations, schools, medical facilities, restaurants, bars, museums and art galleries, among other facilities.
Tanya Basu, in a recent article for the atlantic.com says that this is a national trend reflective of the changing demographics of American society. Basu’s conclusions are largely based on trends identified by Dave and Mary Raphael of Raphael Realty, southern California, whose realty firm has dealt solely with sales of religious properties for 35 years and have by virtue of their business been in a unique position to observe the trends in church sales.
Also referenced is Ellen Levitt, author of The Lost Synagogues, a series of books and tours exploring the changing of hands of the Jewish place of worship to churches, community centers, and schools. Levitt says that in Queens (a classically Jewish borough that had become more Latino, black, and Asian over the years), there is a former synagogue that is now a mosque, at least two former synagogues are now Asian churches, and at least one former synagogue is now a Hindu temple.
Reasons stated for these trends around church sales vary and are summarized as follows:
1. Shifts among Christian denominations: Adherents of professing Christian denominations and religious groups are being said to have slid sharply over time as illustrated by the following developments:
- Southern Baptist and Evangelical churches have seen big drops in attendance, partially due to a split within the Protestant church between mainline Protestantism and Evangelicals;
- Pentecostal churches have seen spikes in attendance, largely attributed to a growing Latino population of which nearly one in three identify as former Catholics.
Ex-Catholics tend to veer in one of two directions: they either become Pentecostals or Evangelical Protestants, or they identify themselves as agnostic or atheist. According to Pew Research Center’s 2013 National Survey of Latinos and Religion, only 40 percent of Hispanic Catholics attend weekly services; comparatively, 71 percent of Hispanic Evangelical Protestants do so;
- Roman Catholic weekly service attendance has slid from 75 percent in 1955 to 45 percent in the mid-2000s;
- Christian Science groups have reported declining attendance. Korean-based Christian congregations have reported spikes in worshipers, while Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in America.
2. Immigration of non-Christians: Beyond the Christian faith, immigration is shaping the religious landscape of America and influencing the church purchasing process. A recent map from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies of the second most popular religions in states across the country showed that Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism were represented strongly across the country.
Though Christianity remains the overwhelmingly dominant religion of choice in the U.S., other faiths are quickly growing, such as Hinduism in Arizona and Delaware and the Baha'i faith in South Carolina. Consequently, other related demographic re-alignments also come into play.
Raphael noted: “Neighborhoods have changed quite a bit…there are certain cultures, groups of people that live in certain areas. Koreans now want to be in Orange County, and Indians want to be in the LA County area. They used to have churches there that are moving out.”
3. The burst of the housing bubble in 2008: Raphael traces the most recent upswing in church sales to this event. As parishioners were struggling with making mortgage payments and impending foreclosures, churches too dipped into their limited reserves to pay off refinanced properties until those reserves were exhausted.
Matters were worsened by the decline in tithing, resulting in churches using up reserves, refinancing properties and in some cases suffering foreclosures. Raphael's observation matches statistics: Giving USA released a recent report noting that donations to smaller churches had fallen by 10 percent during the past year and hadn't yet recovered from pre-recession era donation rates.
4. The reluctance of bankers and financiers to lend to churches: Banks reportedly often avoid association with lending to religious institutions, for the following stated reasons:
- The fear that it might isolate their consumer base who might assume lender association with the views of the religious organization receiving the loans;
- Difficulties in verifying church income levels for churches, since in some cases they keep their own records and finances must be verified by an outsider in those cases where churches do not maintain professional accounting standards supported by formal independent audits. Consequently, churches whose financial records are considered unreliable may end up with no choice but to succumb to foreclosure after failing to satisfy borrowing standards.
- Post-recession adjustments have fundamentally changed the way the Raphael’s engage in business with churches: “The first 32 years or so, we never thought about asking if your loan is current or in default,” Raphael said. “Now if a church calls, that’s the first thing we ask.”
- Churches have the added obstacle of legally being non-profit organizations and requiring a very different legal system than businesses or individuals buying and selling property. In the Raphael’s' home base of California, for example, Rachael says : “You have to verify with the Secretary of State in southern California that the church is capable of holding a title, is a legal entity, and is incorporated as a nonprofit.
Otherwise, you can’t get title insurance, and you can’t do the transaction by the laws and articles of incorporation. Then you have to adopt a resolution.”
5. Primary reliance on tithing, fundraising, and private donations for finances: Support from the laity is often unpredictable and unreliable, as for various reasons, church faithful are not always consistent with their giving, or willing to give but limited by their own levels of income. Some churches therefore resort to running side businesses or fund raising initiatives to keep financially afloat, yet others join or create credit unions.
Basu explains that finding a new place to worship presents a dual problem: getting a brand new building for many groups is out of reach, while the smaller churches that are being sold are just too small for growing congregations. Most state rules require that a building be established as a church for fire code reasons, which means buying a house and turning it into a church is off. And parking, particularly in space crunched California, is precious. A popular solution to these issues is to share space, or rent out available space to interested parties such as during Sunday afternoons when they’re not using it, or weekdays or evenings.
According to Raphael, an overlooked part of the religious property market is interior design, which plays a surprisingly key role in how religious groups use their space and what types of buildings they’re looking into: “A lot of these [declining or smaller] groups are merging their buildings. The style of building is also changing. Chapel groups generally don’t want kitchens but they want to be close to the freeway so people can come in, go to service, grab a coffee, and leave. For other types of congregations, kitchens and fellowships are really important, so you need fully equipped kitchens and halls.”
Looking beyond the changes in demographics and the economic and social factors driving property sales, one wonders if another key underlying reason for the increasing sales of churches is the lack of the effectiveness of the churches themselves. And although the reasons stated are no doubt valid, these trends also seem to be indicative of a church on the decline, failing to make enough of an impact in society to remain relevant and sustainable.
The early church kept growing and not receding, with all their needs being met through sharing and sacrifice (Acts 2: 44-47). Could straying from Biblical patterns be most responsible for contributing to the sale of churches? Are Christians doing all that they can today to keep their churches going, by praying and remaining faithful in their giving, striving to remain perhaps the only “light and salt” that will be left in their neighborhoods to testify for Christ if they stay?
Maybe there is also a need for churches to teach and practice more effectively the principles of giving as well as sound financial management. The need for both is covered well throughout the Bible, especially in verses in the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which God anointed Solomon, who was the wisest and richest man of his time, to write.
Certainly Solomon would never have needed to suffer being foreclosed on the temple God entrusted him to build, or allow pagan religions to buy it off. Hopefully today's church will eventually become one that will influence and shape American demographics and economics, and not the other way round. –Prophecy News Watch
Tanya Basu, in a recent article for the atlantic.com says that this is a national trend reflective of the changing demographics of American society. Basu’s conclusions are largely based on trends identified by Dave and Mary Raphael of Raphael Realty, southern California, whose realty firm has dealt solely with sales of religious properties for 35 years and have by virtue of their business been in a unique position to observe the trends in church sales.
Also referenced is Ellen Levitt, author of The Lost Synagogues, a series of books and tours exploring the changing of hands of the Jewish place of worship to churches, community centers, and schools. Levitt says that in Queens (a classically Jewish borough that had become more Latino, black, and Asian over the years), there is a former synagogue that is now a mosque, at least two former synagogues are now Asian churches, and at least one former synagogue is now a Hindu temple.
Reasons stated for these trends around church sales vary and are summarized as follows:
1. Shifts among Christian denominations: Adherents of professing Christian denominations and religious groups are being said to have slid sharply over time as illustrated by the following developments:
- Southern Baptist and Evangelical churches have seen big drops in attendance, partially due to a split within the Protestant church between mainline Protestantism and Evangelicals;
- Pentecostal churches have seen spikes in attendance, largely attributed to a growing Latino population of which nearly one in three identify as former Catholics.
Ex-Catholics tend to veer in one of two directions: they either become Pentecostals or Evangelical Protestants, or they identify themselves as agnostic or atheist. According to Pew Research Center’s 2013 National Survey of Latinos and Religion, only 40 percent of Hispanic Catholics attend weekly services; comparatively, 71 percent of Hispanic Evangelical Protestants do so;
- Roman Catholic weekly service attendance has slid from 75 percent in 1955 to 45 percent in the mid-2000s;
- Christian Science groups have reported declining attendance. Korean-based Christian congregations have reported spikes in worshipers, while Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in America.
2. Immigration of non-Christians: Beyond the Christian faith, immigration is shaping the religious landscape of America and influencing the church purchasing process. A recent map from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies of the second most popular religions in states across the country showed that Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism were represented strongly across the country.
Though Christianity remains the overwhelmingly dominant religion of choice in the U.S., other faiths are quickly growing, such as Hinduism in Arizona and Delaware and the Baha'i faith in South Carolina. Consequently, other related demographic re-alignments also come into play.
Raphael noted: “Neighborhoods have changed quite a bit…there are certain cultures, groups of people that live in certain areas. Koreans now want to be in Orange County, and Indians want to be in the LA County area. They used to have churches there that are moving out.”
3. The burst of the housing bubble in 2008: Raphael traces the most recent upswing in church sales to this event. As parishioners were struggling with making mortgage payments and impending foreclosures, churches too dipped into their limited reserves to pay off refinanced properties until those reserves were exhausted.
Matters were worsened by the decline in tithing, resulting in churches using up reserves, refinancing properties and in some cases suffering foreclosures. Raphael's observation matches statistics: Giving USA released a recent report noting that donations to smaller churches had fallen by 10 percent during the past year and hadn't yet recovered from pre-recession era donation rates.
4. The reluctance of bankers and financiers to lend to churches: Banks reportedly often avoid association with lending to religious institutions, for the following stated reasons:
- The fear that it might isolate their consumer base who might assume lender association with the views of the religious organization receiving the loans;
- Difficulties in verifying church income levels for churches, since in some cases they keep their own records and finances must be verified by an outsider in those cases where churches do not maintain professional accounting standards supported by formal independent audits. Consequently, churches whose financial records are considered unreliable may end up with no choice but to succumb to foreclosure after failing to satisfy borrowing standards.
- Post-recession adjustments have fundamentally changed the way the Raphael’s engage in business with churches: “The first 32 years or so, we never thought about asking if your loan is current or in default,” Raphael said. “Now if a church calls, that’s the first thing we ask.”
- Churches have the added obstacle of legally being non-profit organizations and requiring a very different legal system than businesses or individuals buying and selling property. In the Raphael’s' home base of California, for example, Rachael says : “You have to verify with the Secretary of State in southern California that the church is capable of holding a title, is a legal entity, and is incorporated as a nonprofit.
Otherwise, you can’t get title insurance, and you can’t do the transaction by the laws and articles of incorporation. Then you have to adopt a resolution.”
5. Primary reliance on tithing, fundraising, and private donations for finances: Support from the laity is often unpredictable and unreliable, as for various reasons, church faithful are not always consistent with their giving, or willing to give but limited by their own levels of income. Some churches therefore resort to running side businesses or fund raising initiatives to keep financially afloat, yet others join or create credit unions.
Basu explains that finding a new place to worship presents a dual problem: getting a brand new building for many groups is out of reach, while the smaller churches that are being sold are just too small for growing congregations. Most state rules require that a building be established as a church for fire code reasons, which means buying a house and turning it into a church is off. And parking, particularly in space crunched California, is precious. A popular solution to these issues is to share space, or rent out available space to interested parties such as during Sunday afternoons when they’re not using it, or weekdays or evenings.
According to Raphael, an overlooked part of the religious property market is interior design, which plays a surprisingly key role in how religious groups use their space and what types of buildings they’re looking into: “A lot of these [declining or smaller] groups are merging their buildings. The style of building is also changing. Chapel groups generally don’t want kitchens but they want to be close to the freeway so people can come in, go to service, grab a coffee, and leave. For other types of congregations, kitchens and fellowships are really important, so you need fully equipped kitchens and halls.”
Looking beyond the changes in demographics and the economic and social factors driving property sales, one wonders if another key underlying reason for the increasing sales of churches is the lack of the effectiveness of the churches themselves. And although the reasons stated are no doubt valid, these trends also seem to be indicative of a church on the decline, failing to make enough of an impact in society to remain relevant and sustainable.
The early church kept growing and not receding, with all their needs being met through sharing and sacrifice (Acts 2: 44-47). Could straying from Biblical patterns be most responsible for contributing to the sale of churches? Are Christians doing all that they can today to keep their churches going, by praying and remaining faithful in their giving, striving to remain perhaps the only “light and salt” that will be left in their neighborhoods to testify for Christ if they stay?
Maybe there is also a need for churches to teach and practice more effectively the principles of giving as well as sound financial management. The need for both is covered well throughout the Bible, especially in verses in the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which God anointed Solomon, who was the wisest and richest man of his time, to write.
Certainly Solomon would never have needed to suffer being foreclosed on the temple God entrusted him to build, or allow pagan religions to buy it off. Hopefully today's church will eventually become one that will influence and shape American demographics and economics, and not the other way round. –Prophecy News Watch
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