Four or Five Churches Closing a Month: How a Church Lender Began Helping Congregations Rethink Their Buildings

• The Episcopal Church was closing four to five church buildings a month
• The Episcopal Church Building Fund had been a construction lender
• It launched a process to help congregations weigh mergers, sales and partnerships
• Pilots ran in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Albuquerque, Fort Worth and Massachusetts

A church lender that once simply financed new buildings changed its mission as closures mounted, Faith & Leadership reported in January 2015 in a profile of Julia Groom, president of the Episcopal Church Building Fund.

Groom, a lifelong Episcopalian, spent more than 25 years with the American Red Cross before joining the fund in 2008. At the time of the interview, the Episcopal Church was closing four to five church buildings every month, many under financial pressure.

The fund responded by widening its work beyond construction loans. It began helping distressed congregations rethink their relationship with their buildings through a programme it called the Recasting of Building Assets Process. The process brought churches together to look honestly at their finances and to consider options including mergers, sales and partnerships with community groups. Pilot projects were run in north-western Pennsylvania, Iowa, Albuquerque, Fort Worth and western Massachusetts.

According to the profile, the process gave many congregations their first frank conversation about what their buildings were costing them and whether they could continue. In one example, three struggling Episcopal churches in the same town eventually merged, sharing one clergy member and one presence in the community.

The shift from lender to adviser reflects a wider change. When congregations shrink, buildings designed for hundreds of worshippers become the largest drain on their budgets. A lender that only offers loans for more space is of little help; what many churches need is advice on how to use, share or release the space they already have.

Jamaican denominations may find the model useful. Before deciding whether to repair, rebuild or close a church, a congregation benefits from an honest review of costs, attendance and alternatives, ideally with outside help. Merging nearby congregations, sharing buildings or leasing unused space can protect both mission and property, and such conversations are easier before a crisis than after one.