Yoga Studios, Kitchens and 173 Apartments: A Seminary Conference Shows Churches How to Keep Their Buildings

• About 100 church leaders met at Princeton Theological Seminary’s conference
• An estimated 100,000 church buildings could be sold or repurposed by 2030
• A San Antonio church rents space to a yoga studio, a kitchen and co-workers
• Arlington Presbyterian was cited for 173 affordable homes

With church attendance falling and maintenance costs rising, about 100 church leaders gathered in September 2024 to learn how to keep their buildings, Episcopal News Service reported.

The Future of Church Property conference, organised by Princeton Theological Seminary and held online and in person on September 20-21, was built around one estimate: some 100,000 church-owned buildings in the United States could be sold or repurposed by 2030. “Everything keeps getting more expensive, but we fewer people in the congregation to pay for it,” said Jainine Gambaro of Franklin Reformed Church.

Speakers shared models for earning income from church property. Sunset Ridge Church of Christ in San Antonio leases space to a yoga studio at $650 a month, a commercial kitchen at $400 per user per month and a co-working space at $75 per user per month. “That time we invested ended up really helping people get ownership,” said Jess Lowry of the Sunset Ridge Collective. Arlington Presbyterian Church, near Washington DC, was cited for developing 173 affordable homes with $71 million in funding through non-profit partners.

Green building upgrades were another theme. “There is a lot of money for you all right now, and that’s exciting,” said Lindsay Baker, chief executive of the International Living Future Institute, adding that “Young people are really motivated by climate action.” Not every church found the answers easy. “The answer feels like it’s money, but that’s not an answer for us,” said the Rev Meagan Manas of Clinton Presbyterian Church.

The conference captured a shift in how churches think about their property: less as a burden to be carried and more as an asset to be managed, with rent, partnerships and energy savings all part of the plan.

Jamaican churches can borrow the practical ideas without waiting for decline. Renting a hall to a caterer or school, installing solar to cut light bills, or partnering on housing on spare land are all ways to make a building pay its way, provided the arrangements are written down and the church’s legal and tax position is checked first.

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