By Carrie Brown McWhorter
The Alabama Baptist
Mars Hill Primitive Baptist Church sits just off a country road in rural Cleburne County. The building, constructed in the mid-1990s to replace another destroyed by fire, is a simple wood-framed building with white siding. A few feet from the front door is a sheltered picnic table, once a gathering place for local families and their kin who came once a month to sing sacred harp hymns, hear the preacher and enjoy dinner-on-the-grounds. That’s no longer the case.
Like many churches of its kind, Mars Hill Baptist now is mostly abandoned. Even the church’s annual sacred harp singing has ceased. The electricity has been turned off and local families tied to the church’s history keep the grass cut. County deputies have been called to the church’s remote location more than once in the last few years to investigate criminal activity in or near the church, and nearby residents wonder what the future holds for the building and land.
Abandoned buildings
What to do with abandoned church buildings is a growing concern across denominations. Dying churches are not just Primitive Baptist churches, nor are they just rural churches. In June the United Methodist Church in North Alabama announced that nine churches, including churches in Bessemer and Cullman, would close by June 2016. In New York and Boston, Roman Catholic officials have closed more than 50 churches in the past 10 years. At one Boston Catholic church, protesters have kept vigil for 11 years in an effort to keep their church open. The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston went to court in May to try to evict the parishioners.
There are no solid numbers on church closings across Alabama Baptist associations. According to data reported in the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Church Profile, Alabama actually saw growth in the past three years, going from 3,120 churches in 2013 to 3,215 churches in 2014. Membership numbers in those years have remained steady as well, hovering around the 1-million members mark.
Anecdotally state and associational leaders say many Alabama Baptist churches do not formally close but instead continue to meet with a handful of members who scrape together enough money to pay the bills each month.
For churches in steep decline, one question looms: What will happen to the church building when no one is left to take care of it?
There is no one right answer, according to Jim Swedenburg, director of the office of Cooperative Program and stewardship development for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). Often what happens to the building depends on the circumstances.
Churches cease to utilize buildings for a number of reasons. In some instances the church experiences growth and moves to a new location to facilitate that increase in attendance.
That was the case with CrossPointe Baptist Church, Madison, in Madison Baptist Association. Their former campus in a busy school zone did not meet their space or parking needs, so the church purchased land down the street and began planning their new facility. From the beginning the church’s financial plan for the new campus did not require sale of the old property, according to CrossPointe Baptist elder Mike Nevin. However, the eventual use or sale of the property was certainly part of the church’s long-term planning.
Market value
Though the property was in a good location commercial options were limited, Nevin said.
“The property couldn’t be rezoned, so it wasn’t the case that a drug store or other retail could move in. Since churches don’t sell every day, there were also lots of factors that went into determining market value,” he said.
A couple of churches showed interest in buying the property, and Valley Presbyterian purchased the former building during construction of CrossPointe’s new home.
“We felt like we got what we wanted financially, and it was just a blessing from the Lord for it to work out so well,” Nevin said. “To the best of my knowledge, Valley Presbyterian has done very well in our old building.”
Renting space
CrossPointe’s experience shows the potential for continued use of church buildings for ministry even as congregations change and grow. But not every effort to sell a building works out so quickly.
In November 2014, the congregations of two Tuscaloosa Baptist Association churches, Open Door Baptist and Alberta Baptist, merged. Open Door moved its congregation to the Alberta campus, leaving empty an 11-acre property with a 1,200-seat auditorium and education space.
Two churches are renting the space on Sunday mornings, according to Keith Pugh, pastor of discipleship and care for Alberta Baptist and former pastor of Open Door. Combined with rent from a preschool that uses the facility, the church comes close to “breaking even” on its mortgage and utility expenses for the Open Door campus, Pugh said. Church leaders are eager to see a sale, however.
“We are maintaining financially and it’s working,” he said. “God has been very gracious to have it work so well, but any piece of the puzzle missing could be problematic.”
Pugh said his heart’s desire is to see the facility maintained as a worship center. And Swedenburg noted that this is ideally how any church building would be utilized in the long term.
Different focus
“If a church decides that they no longer have the people, the money, the location or whatever the cause may be, the question for them really comes down to what is the outlook for this property,” Swedenburg said. “The congregation must decide if they are willing for the church to continue in ministry with perhaps a different focus. Regardless they have to look at their options for passing the property to someone who can use it.”
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