It’s More than a Building

By Mike Glenn

I’m a sucker for old church buildings. I love finding sanctuaries that were built in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, going inside, and just sitting down. There is something holy about the architecture, the stained glass windows, and the craftsmanship we can’t seem to replicate in our post-modern construction. These days, everything is pre-fabricated, cost-effective, and multi-purpose. There’s nothing in our modern facilities testifying to the extravagance of worship or the gloriousness of our God.

Recently, if you’ve been in one new church, you’ve been in them all.

Knowing this, you might understand why I get so upset when I see a church building go up for sale. Of course, there are times when selling church property makes sense for a congregation. The growth of a city makes the property worth many times over what the congregation paid for the property. I’ve seen property sold, another property bought, and a new building built with no new money required from the congregation.

It happens.

But not much.

Most of the time, it’s a congregation that has dwindled down to a handful of dedicated members who can no longer afford to maintain their facility and when, approached by a developer, see a way to salvage the memory of the church by investing the profits of the sale into various ministries and mission efforts.

So, the church building is sold and turned into a restaurant, a condo, or an office building. In a few months, the newspaper will run an…