By Jim Coggins

If it is true that the average life cycle of a church is 70 years, then what happens to the church building after the church closes down? If the neighbourhood model of local church is being replaced by a variety of other models – megachurches, buildingless churches, house churches, etc. – then again what happens to the buildings these neighbourhood churches used to own?

The answer depends partly on the denominational structure.

For instance, all United Church property is held in trust for the United Church of Canada, said Doug Goodwin, executive secretary of that church's British Columbia Conference, even though that trust is administered in various ways. As long as it is in operation, 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. But when a local church closes, there is no longer a local board of trustees, so responsibility for administering the building reverts to the United Church conference in that area.

Some other denominations have similar structures – but not all.

In Lutheran Church-Canada, about 95 percent of the congregations own their buildings, said Darryl Holland, business manager for that denomination's East District. What happens when a church closes depends on the charter of that particular congregation. Most charters say that the property reverts to the district. However, some disbanding congregations, with differently worded charters, have sold their property and donated the proceeds to another congregation or ministry.

Baptists tend to value local church autonomy, said Clint Mix, director of congregational health for the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. Most church buildings are owned by the local congregation. Therefore, when a local church closes, it is "wide open" for the congregation to decide what to do with the remaining property. Since the money to buy the property was donated, the congregation's members can't keep the money themselves, of course. However, they can choose to give it to the denomination, another local church, a Baptist ministry or even a parachurch organization.

The selling process

The United Church of Canada has a long established process for disposing of unused property, Goodwin said.

Sometimes the building from a closed United Church congregation is transferred to another United Church congregation. For instance, in recent years, the building of the former St. Paul's United Church in Burnaby, B.C., was transferred to Korean United Church, and the building of the former Oak Avenue United Church in Vancouver was transferred to Amazing Grace (Taiwanese) United Church.

If there is no other United Church 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."

Since municipalities aren't zoning much new property for church use, it would seem logical that a church building be sold to another church. For instance, Renfrew United Church in Vancouver was sold a year ago to Pacific Grace Mennonite Brethren Church, a Chinese congregation. Pacific Grace Church in turn sold its (smaller) building to New Beginnings Baptist Church.

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However, the issue is not always that simple. In large cities, in particular, often land is so expensive that no other congregation can afford to buy a church building. The strategic plan developed by the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster determined that a parish needs a minimum of 130 parishioners each donating $1000 annually to support a priest and an existing building. However, it would cost considerably more to buy a building at market value. Recently, the 270-seat St. John's United Church in Vancouver went up for sale with an asking price of $4.495 million; the mortgage on such a building alone could cost several times the annual budget of any congregation small enough to fit into the building.

The end user

Usually, the United Church establishes specific guidelines for the sale of each property, Goodwin said. The guidelines often state that preference be given to offers from other 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 United Church's Camp Koinonia in Surrey, B.C., was ideal, said Goodwin. The camp was bought by the city of Surrey, which paid a good price to the church and turned the land into a park, continuing 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.

Lutheran Church-Canada has no formal guidelines on who a church building is sold to, Holland said, although the denomination remains very "concerned about who the end user is – we wouldn't sell property to a strip club or abortion centre." Since the denomination doesn't have direct control over the sale of property, it can only "strongly advise" congregations to follow such moral guidelines – which is not a big problem since the congregations share the denomination's values anyway.

Similarly, Mix said, Baptists and similar denominations would not generally sell properly "to a group that would be counter-productive to the gospel morally or theologically, such as a strip club or a cult."

The dreaded developers

All denominations admit that, given the high price of land in major cities, church property often ends up being sold to developers.

However, Mix said his denomination is very committed to not using the proceeds from such sales to run the denominational headquarters and programs. Proceeds from the sale of churches that have closed are used to start new churches. "We are pretty vehement about taking the funds and pouring them back into mission."

Although it is concerned about what the property will be used for, the United Church 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 United Church, the assets from a sale should be used to benefit the ministry of the United Church rather than some other church.

"We have been clear that we won't give it away," Goodwin added. If the United Church 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 eventual sale of St. John's United Church in Vancouver last fall might be seen as less than ideal. The property was bought by Westbank Projects Corporation, which planned 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." The property will continue to serve the community by providing lower cost housing, but the land will be lost for church use.

April 8/2010