I believe that we're going to see more of this as other parishes that have left pecusa realize that they are better off in a new building than they were in their previous church building. This also means that the window for negotiation for buildings in those dioceses that are willing to sell them back to their former congregations is closing. For dioceses like Florida, and the DCNY (which has not been willing to negotiate in good faith), they will be saddled with the continuing costs of maintaining old and deteriorating church buildings. Currently the DCNY has six buildings for sale, including one rectory that has not yet sold. ed.
This story comes via TitusOneNine:
The church's former site is up for sale, but they want a new place.
* By Dan Scanlan
* Story updated at 11:45 PM on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009
In 2007, the All Souls congregation literally walked away from the old building to their current place of worship at Mandarin Middle School. They are currently looking for a new location.
Members of All Souls Anglican Church had to walk away from their home in 2007, after the Episcopal Diocese said they could no longer worship there.
Now the diocese is walking away from the empty 5.3-acre All Souls campus in Mandarin, putting it up for sale for $2.8 million. But the former occupants say "no thanks" to coming back as they hone in on a new, permanent home nearby.
Meeting every Sunday since mid-July 2007 in the Mandarin Middle School auditorium, the congregation uses a storefront at 3750 San Jose Place for office space and a local Baptist church for youth programs. That could change in the next year as the church looks into the purchase of a 5-acre site on Hood Road, said the Rev. Gene Strickland.
"We will be talking about that in our February parish meeting. The location is good; the price is very fair," Strickland said. "It's not the price [of the former church]. That is no longer our home. Our ministry and mission there has been finished, and the Lord has shut that door and now we are hoping to move to the next place the Lord has called us."
All Souls was founded in 1979, then moved to 10679 Old St. Augustine Road. The Episcopal Diocese of Florida asked All Souls to leave the Mandarin sanctuary and took over the property after church members and clergy locked the doors and walked away July 15, 2007.
Services are now held at the middle school at 5100 Hood Road, while the church's youth ministry meets at Crown Point Baptist Church at 10153 Old St. Augustine Road.
The Episcopal Diocese was searching for someone to use the vacant Old St. Augustine Road church and recently put it up for sale, said Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard.
"We felt like at this point in time, it is probably not the best use of our resources to restart a church at All Souls," he said. "Other parishes have considered it for different sorts of ministries."
Strickland said his staff didn't want to buy back their old home, and he said he hopes some type of ministry takes over there. In the meantime, the church has $190,000 in cash and $100,000 in pledges toward the new site, which its owner has agreed to sell even though it was never listed. Strickland said they could raise enough to pay for the land, then break ground this spring and add temporary buildings and offices.
A more permanent sanctuary would follow as funding allows.
Meanwhile, All Souls has expanded some of its outreach despite being in temporary quarters, beginning a men's ministry at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless downtown last week.
Reporter Jeff Brumley contributed to this article.
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