{"id":2921,"date":"2007-09-24T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2007-09-24T15:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=56"},"modified":"2015-11-20T13:40:57","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T21:40:57","slug":"liquidating-our-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/liquidating-our-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Liquidating our Church Property"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LiquidatingI attended a church planting Conference in Irving, TX a while back in which\u00a0Todd Phillips<\/a> shared that, according to current studies and using modern water purifying technology, $10 Billion could solve the world’s water crisis. This got me thinking about my earlier post related to Money, Missions, and Ministry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Church Property Value is $500 Billion<\/h2>\n

I am not aware what the value of church property in America is currently, but\u00a0I know that in 1931, the estimated value of church property in America was $4 billion. When you realize that the average home price in 1930 was $7,000, imagine how much churches are sitting on today? The average home value today is around $230,000, an increase of 3300%. So $4 billion in 1930 would be $1.3 trillion today. I have no clue how accurate this number is, but let’s say it’s less than half of that and call it $500 billion.<\/p>\n

If only 2% of the churches in America sold their buildings<\/a>, and put\u00a0the money\u00a0toward solving the world’s water crisis, we would have enough money.<\/p>\n

But churches don’t want to sell their buildings. After all, where would they meet?<\/p>\n

Churches Paying Taxes on their Property<\/h2>\n

Okay, then, here is another option. In 1930,\u00a0it was estimated that since churches were tax-exempt organizations, they were being “subsidized” by the government at $250 million annually. In other words, if churches were being taxed, the government would receive $250 million from them annually (which is 6%). Again, I don’t know how tax rates have changed since 1930, but let’s say they haven’t changed at all.<\/p>\n

If, in 1930, the government could have gotten $250 million by taxing church property (valued at $4 billion), then today, if our property value is only $500 billion, our taxes today would be over $31 billion!<\/p>\n

So if churches in America decided that for ONE year, we would put aside only 1\/3 of what we would owe the government in property taxes for that one year, we could solve the world’s water crisis in one year!<\/strong> Should churches do this (or something similar)? <\/p>\n

Absolutely. <\/p>\n

Will churches do this if made aware of the opportunity? Call me pessimistic, but probably not.<\/p>\n

Maybe we could just spend less on sound systems.<\/a><\/p>\n

Challenging my own Finances<\/h2>\n

So the question then becomes, “What am I doing personally to help solve the world’s water crisis (and similar needs) around the globe?” Rather than pointing the accusatory finger at the churches and their vast wealth, I need to take a hard look at my budget, and my possessions, and where my money is going. I may not have $50 million to put toward a building, but if I have $50 which I am going to spend on coffee this year (it’s probably more than that), maybe I should consider giving up my coffee so someone else can simply have water…<\/p>\n

But that’s too convicting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If churches sold their property, or at least taxed themselves what they would be paying in taxes, we could solve most of the world’s health and water 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