Yesterday we looked at two places that might buy your church building if you wanted to sell it as way of becoming more missional.
I suggested you could sell it to a group within your church that is forming a non-profit organization, or you could sell it to another church in town that is looking for a building. Here are two more places that might buy your church building.
3. Sell it to a business.
Sometimes local businesses are eager to get church property because it often has good parking and a central location. If you do sell it to a business, the church will often convert the building into office space, a warehouse, or a training center. I heard of one business that likes to buy up churches and convert them into dance clubs. For some reason, people like to dance in churches.
I know that many elders and churchgoers don’t like the idea of their building becoming an office complex or dance club, but from God’s perspective, is the building really accomplishing its purpose by sitting empty six days of the week, or being a place that Christians dump thousands and millions of dollars into every year just so they can have a place to talk about the Bible? Is that really better? What is a building anyway but a bunch of wood, rock, and metal? There’s nothing sacred about it, other than what is sacred about every other building as well.
Just because a strip club or a bar takes over where a church used to meet does not mean the church is losing ground. To the contrary, if the church has abandoned the building to go serve others in the world, the church has not lost, but won a victory. If the building as it is hinders your mission, and not having a building helps, dump it as fast as possible to the first buyer.
I recently read about a church in Albany, New York that sold their building to a Fraternity. The church actually did not want to sell to a Fraternity because of all the drinking and sex that generally goes on in Fraternities. The church members didn’t think that such things should happen in a former church. But eventually, with no other buyers and the bank threatening to foreclose, the church was forced to sell.
The Fraternity came in, cleaned up the church, and immediately transformed it, not into a drunken party zone, but into a community center for the neighborhood. They also created a $50,000 fund to provide micro-loans for the community. They brought in soda fountains, coffee makers, pool tables, and other fun activities for families, teenagers, and college students to play. The fraternity transformed an old, dying church into a place for people to hang out, have fun, and get help.
Maybe the church would not have died if they had done something similar.
4. Sell to a homeowner.
Though most people would not think a church would make a good house, some of the older churches have a lot of style and historical character which is what some homeowners are looking for. A couple in Kyloe, Northumberland, PA bought and converted a church into a home, with the end result being a stunning home.
Here are some pictures:
This couple in Pennsylvania aren’t the only ones doing this. Here is another church that was converted into a home:
Conclusion
So if you want to sell your church building, there are numerous people and places who might buy it. Yes, some of the suggestions may seem extreme. But maybe what really is extreme is spending millions of dollars for the construction and upkeep of a building that only gets used for a few hours a week.
Furthermore, these “extreme” suggestions are reality for many of our brothers and sisters throughout time and around the world where their government made it illegal for them to own buildings or meet in large groups. If they can effectively function as the church without buildings, why can’t we?
Are you still not sure you’re ready to sell? That’s okay. It’s not for everyone. Check back tomorrow as we begin to look at some ways you can redeem your church building.
Those homes are gorgeous! Can you get me an invite? I’d love to throw some parties in those places. I’d like to live there if some one else bought one for me and paid to keep it up.
We are acquainted with several church properties here in Southern California that have been sold because the congregations fizzled and the handful of remaining people and/or the denomination decided to close the church. Most real estate here is valuable, so the properties sold With little problem. Several were turned into restaurants, one a dance club and several were developed, which means the buildings were torn down and residential or commercial buildings were built on the property.
Wouldn’t it be totally radical if some congregations would tell their community “We can afford the building, but we’re selling it. We’re going to be meeting at places all over town. We’ll be meeting in smaller groups – some in cafes, some in parks, some in homes, some in schools so we can get to know you. The net profits from the sale of the building are going to the_______________(community service organization, homeless halfway house, etc.). The money we would have used to pay for the building is going to be used for this community for____________________ (specific examples)”? Or, “We’re turning our building into a community center (homeless halfway house, kids after school club. etc. or a combination of things like that) for the community to use.”
I doubt God has fantasies, but if He does this sort of thing would surely be among them.
That would be so awesome! It gives me chills just thinking about it! I think it would shock the community and energize the believers in that church.
This is definitely a God fantasy! Ha ha!
Those are some great ideas. Some local governments might consider buying a building as a community center. Another non-profit could benefit from a space with zoning for assembly use, even if it were to be sold to those of another faith. Lots of our warehouse conversions could be sold back as, well, warehouses. Other spaces would make ideal community theaters. Sometimes your most valuable asset is your parking lot in a tight urban community. Consider renting spaces to local businesses and residents. Or rather than just unload the building, join forces with another church with a track record and vision for re-starting churches in old buildings.
Also, I’d suggest consider finding an experienced expert in brokering ministry facilities in your area. This may take some effort and doing, but could be well worth the effort as they have contacts with vast networks in your community.
As Dr. Bernard Jensen was noted for saying,”That’s something to think about!” I found out recently that churches should NOT BECOME INCORPERATED LEST THEY BECOME A RELIGIOUS TAX EXEMPT ORGANIZATION (INSTEAD OF A CHURCH) & THE GOVERNMENT BECOMES THEIR LORD! Bro. Lester Rolloff learned this the hard way!