First and St Stephen’s United Church of Christ in Towson, Maryland, sold its building for $1.1 million to a local resident who is letting the congregation keep using it free of charge until September 2026.

A Christian lawmaker in Pakistan’s Punjab introduced a bill barring the sale, lease or mortgage of church and minority communal property without government approval, with prison terms of up to seven years for violations.

Grace Evangelical Free Church sold its Outer Sunset site near Ocean Beach for about $3.5 million to a developer planning apartments, after an upzoning raised the height limit to 85 feet.

Toronto’s Berkeley Church, built in 1871 as a Wesleyan Methodist church and later an event venue, has been bought for $3.75 million, after its operator went into receivership, by a developer planning to restore and reopen it.

Michigan churches are building homes, from Battle Creek’s grant-funded houses selling below cost to a $13 million Grand Rapids plan, while advocates call for state ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ legislation.

The United Church of Canada transferred Seodaemun House, a 1921 missionary residence in Seoul, and two other properties to the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea in 1974 instead of selling them.

The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania shared proceeds from selling the former St Philip-in-the-Fields church in Oreland, giving $130,000 to food ministries across 10 deaneries and $130,000 to the merged congregation.

Growing evangelical congregations are buying closed Catholic parishes in the Midwest, including a $1.75 million deal for St Jude in Joliet, as a broker says most church buildings sell to other faith groups.

The United Methodist Church sold Baltimore’s 153-year-old Mount Vernon Place church for $500,000 to a local nonprofit, which leases space back to the congregation for $100 a year and plans an $8 million-plus restoration.

A planned $8 million sale of Covenant Baptist Church in DeKalb County, Georgia, fell through after a lender’s $2.5 million in bridge funding was used to pay off the church’s mortgage. A judge ruled the church owed the money; it appealed.