Sunday, March 16, 2014

Mainline to Sideline



As the Episcopal Church continues to maintain headquarters at 815 2nd Avenue in New York City, many denominations are selling their headquarters and key denominational assets as America becomes more secular:
The actions follow a period of relative stability. Churches moved frequently from the Colonial era through the 19th century, but less often in the 20th century, as they became wealthier and acquired better holdings, according to James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University. But now denominations are pondering whether some properties “have outlived their usefulness.”
“They’re finding themselves pressed for finances, and making some hard choices about property, and so we’re seeing more sales in the last decade than we had for the last century,” Professor Hudnut-Beumler said. “The first things to go were camps and conference centers, and now there is some downsizing of prime-location land, churches and facilities.”
Read the rest of the article in the New York Times.

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