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By Jim Coggins
“FOR SALE: 45 year old, 250-seat church.”
If the neighbourhood model of local church is being replaced by megachurches,
building-less churches and house churches, then what happens to the buildings
these neighbourhood churches used to own?
The United Church of Canada (UCC) has a long established process for disposing
of unused property, said Doug Goodwin, executive secretary of that church’s B.C. Conference. For instance, a local church’s board of trustees has responsibility for administering that church’s property. The local church can expand, sell or develop its land and property
according to its needs.
As many local UCC congregations are struggling to maintain members and finances,
the denomination has made an arrangement with Colliers International, to
provide property development consultations to the congregations.
When a local church closes, there is no longer a local board of trustees, so
responsibility for administering the building reverts to the local UCC
conference. Sometimes the building from a closed UCC congregation is
transferred to an active congregation.
For instance, the former Oak Avenue Church in Surrey was transferred to Amazing
Grace (Taiwanese) United, and St. Paul’s in Burnaby went to Korean United.
If there is no other UCC congregation that needs the building, then “an open conversation” begins on what can be done with the property “for the benefit of the United Church,” Goodwin said.
Since municipalities aren’t zoning much new property for church use, it would seem logical that a church
building be sold to another church. However, the issue is not that simple,
according to Goodwin.
Usually, the UCC establishes specific guidelines for the sale of each property,
Goodwin said. For instance, the guidelines often state that preference be given
to offers from faith communities, either Christian churches or other religious
groups.
Preference will also be given to buyers who will use the property to continue to
serve the local community.
The sale of the UCC’s Camp Koinonia in Surrey was ideal, said Goodwin. The camp was bought a couple of years ago by the City of
Surrey, which paid a good price to the church and will continue to use the land
for camping and other community services.
In addition, the sale was good from an environmental standpoint since the land
will be preserved in a green state rather than being used for building.
Similarly, Renfrew United Church in east Vancouver was sold this summer to
Pacific Grace Mennonite Brethren Church, a Chinese congregation. It is
indicative of the tight property situation that Pacific Grace Church is in turn
selling its (smaller) building to New Beginnings Baptist church, which was
begun in 1990 as an outreach to “broken and hurting people” in the inner city.
On the other hand, the UCC also attempts to get “fair market value” for any property it sells. This is a matter of stewardship, Goodwin said. Since
the land and building were originally purchased by money donated to the UCC,
the assets from a sale should be used to benefit the ministry of the UCC rather
than some other church.
“We have been clear that we won’t give it away,” Goodwin added. If the UCC were to sell a building to another church at a
reduced price, the other church could ‘flip’ it, selling it to a developer for a profit.
In contrast to some other sales, the sale of the St. John’s United Church in downtown Vancouver this fall might be seen as less than
ideal. The property was bought by Westbank Projects Corporation, which wants to
build a rental building with “a wide variety of sizes of homes including both small affordable homes and very
efficient family housing with three bedrooms.”
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The property will continue to serve the community by providing lower cost
housing, but the land will be lost for church use.
The escalation of land prices in the Lower Mainland in recent years has meant
that developers are often willing to pay for more for land than a local church
can afford.
The strategic plan developed earlier this year by the Anglican Diocese of New
Westminster determined that a parish needs about $130,000-$150,000 annually to
support a priest and an existing building.
However, it would cost considerably more to buy that building at market value.
Although the selling price of the St. John’s United Church has not been disclosed, the asking price was $4.495 million; the mortgage on such a building alone could
cost two or three times the Anglican estimate to maintain an existing
congregation.
Nelson Boschman, head of the new Artisan Church, which meets in Vancouver Public
Library, suggested “the logistical financial reality” is such that the chances his church will ever own a building are “slim to none.”
Christianity is an “incarnational faith,” said Peter Elliott, Dean of the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver,
so it is not surprising that church families become attached to church
buildings, just as families develop attachments to their homes.
The Diocese of New Westminster hasn’t sold a building in 13 years, Elliott said, but it isn’t a matter of selling buildings. Rather it’s a case of Anglicans in a certain area getting together and deciding what is
the best way to use the available resources for church ministry. That might involve selling a building, but the focus remains on ministry, not the
building.
This is the third in a series on ‘The State of the Local Church.’ The other parts can be found here
November 2009
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