Six steps to take before listing your church

by Michael W. Michelsen

When a congregation outgrows a church building, it may have to relocate. If it does, what will it do with the property that it leaves behind?

The facility can be sold, of course. But selling a church is not an easy task. For one thing, there are so many people involved. An entire congregation of people will have questions and opinions about how to sell the church and what the terms of that sale should be.

Who buys the property is another issue. Should a building dedicated to the Lord for church ministry be used for other things, such as a school or daycare center? What about selling to someone who just wants the land your church rests on for commercial development?

Besides those difficulties, there's the matter of how to do it. Selling a church usually happens only once in the lifetime of a congregation. Most church leaders thus know little about the process.

To prepare for the task, here are some suggestions from pastors and professionals.

Ingersoll wouldn't make that decision with just a handful of leaders, however. Rather, he approached the task of deciding what should be done by submitting a proposal to the congregation, listing some options that would help alleviate the problem of overcrowding. "I made the case for each option, but by the end of the document, it was so obvious that we needed to sell and relocate that the job was easy," Ingersoll says.

Each member of the church got a proposal, which also included a ballot. Ingersoll advised people to go home, read the proposal, and pray for guidance before voting the next week about what to do. The next week Ingersoll chose three women from the congregation to count the ballots. In a vote that only took 15 minutes, the congregation unanimously decided to relocate.

Getting the clear support of everyone in the congregation was also critical for Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. "In 1996, we had 1,200 members. We were growing to the point that we couldn't fit everyone in," says Carl Hefton, a member of the church. The church was crowded onto six landlocked acres. When church leaders were offered the opportunity to obtain 20 acres with freeway frontage, the decision to relocate seemed obvious.

Still, the leaders took the time necessary to get full congregational approval before proceeding. They did that with information: analysis and long-range planning showing how the congregation could expect to grow to more than 5,000 by the year 2005. They also discussed how people at Heights Baptist Church should see themselves as important participants in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. What was especially convincing was explaining how the congregation was a church, not a building. "That got people excited about moving," Hefton says.

Heights Baptist Church solved the problem of special furnishings by taking everything. "When we moved from our church, the building became a school," Hefton says. "So we gave away some of the most important furnishings to other churches that had a need. We also took special objects with us. For example, we took three old crosses that were in the front of the old church and put them in the sanctuary of our new building. To us, this symbolizes the history and traditions of the past along with the growth and hope of the future."

Sentiment can be a powerful drag on the sale of a church. But if people truly understand the importance of moving on for the sake of advancing the work of the church, they will be less likely to hold onto a building or its furnishings.

Ingersoll knows that from experience. "When I first proposed the sale of our church, I had people stand at the altar, saying, 'I was married in this church. My children were dedicated in this church. My spouse's funeral was in this church,'" Ingersoll says. What they add after that shows how their priorities have shifted. "But for the growth of Christ's body," they say, "I am in favor of the sale."

Another problem is that most churches are sold with limitations on new ownership. "More than 90 percent of all church owners either keep their property to serve as a church, or they change the purpose of the structure to a private school or another nonprofit organization," Dawson says.

Community influence can be positive, however. "Pastors are often key people in a community. They're very aware of the needs in a community. That can influence a sale," Dawson says.

Either way, hiring a broker with experience in selling churches is critical. "The first mistake most congregations make when they decide to sell a church is to go to a real estate broker who specializes in commercial properties," says Danny Muzyka, president of Service Realty in Plano, Texas, which specializes in selling church property. "A realtor who doesn't understand any of this will just push for the sale without considering the need for leasing a temporary location while another church is being built."

Another factor influencing the sale may be a disparity between how church leaders and the congregation view the sale. "When I get a call from a pastor or other church official, it doesn't take long to figure out whether the move this person has envisioned is not that of the congregation," Muzyka says. He urges churches to do the following before listing a church:

• Find out who wants to move. The broker sits down with the pastor, the church board, and as many members as possible to make sure everyone agrees about the need to move from the present location and to sell the building.
• Write out a plan. Check the long-range facility needs and purposes of the congregation. "Take all of the talk, put it in writing, then take a look at it to see what is workable," Muzyka says.
• Work out the money. The result of haphazard planning can be a church that sells itself out of its building and into the streets. Putting together a financial game plan is essential.

In addition, church leaders found a reversionary clause dating back to 1946 that would revert the title of the church back to the previous owner, a Presbyterian church, if they sold to buyers who would no longer use the church as a house of worship. Hiring an attorney to examine all documents regarding the sale or transfer of church property would have eased much of that stress.

Another matter they should discuss is whether they'll allow their church building to be taken over by a congregation whose faith differs from their own. Or by a group that has no intention of using the church as a church.

The buyer became an issue for people at Westside Baptist Church. The church was sold to a man who only wanted to use part of the property to put up a burger joint. The fast-food restaurant was up and running before the congregation moved on to its new facility. Sermons became an endurance test for the congregation as cars rolled through the pick-up line at the nearby restaurant. "Would you like fries with that?" spoiled even the best lines of the pastor.

Shortly after Ingersoll's congregation moved, the fast-food business failed, and the church building burned to the ground. Was it God's way of cautioning people about the dangers of selling a church build ing to just anyone?

No one can say for sure. However, some lessons appear obvious: Be united about your reasons for relocating and selling your church. Don't list the property till you've hired an attorney and an experienced broker. And work out a clear understanding of what kind of buyer you'll accept before taking any offers.

Michael W. Michelsen, Jr. (Mikemichelsen@prodigy.net), is a freelance writer living in Riverside, California.

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