Church problems.

J

John *.?-!.* cub owner

501 Club
Our church was built 45 years ago, mostly with volunteer labor by church members. Some was done by contractors, but none of the current members know who. We discovered this week that the trusses used for the roof and vaulted ceiling are coming apart to the point the contractors that have looked at it believe it is unsafe to meet in. Our income is less than our weekly expenses, and preliminary estimates are that it will take around 2/3 of our bank account to repair the building, which at the current donation rate will only leave us able to meet another 5 or 6 years. We are in a quandary as to what to do .Repair it and go on as long as we can, or put it up for sale and transport our members to another Church of Christ each Sunday in a van. I would appreciate your prayers and thoughts.
 
Yikes. Is it possible the church can obtain a loan to do the repairs? Decades ago, the church we were attending got a loan from Unico Bank to build a new building next to the old church building. I know that will require the church to endure a monthly bill, but that may be a solution.
 
Very sorry to hear about this. I mean no offense but to your contractors, but I think it would be worth the money to get a structural engineer to look at it and discuss your options (if you haven't already). He may see an repair approach that the contractors didn't.
Good luck with this.
 
John, that's sad to hear. You've got two problems, the lack of income and an unsafe building. The first one that needs to be addressed is the building. Selling the building does not seem to be the answer in my opinion since you will need to nearly give it away as an unsafe building.
I'd suggest you appeal to the community and see if a local contractor might step in to help. Not that you're looking for a free fix but possibly a discounted cost. Often times you will find a contractor that may do the repairs for cost.
The next issue is your church will need to increase its giving and try to grow the church. Growing a church these days is difficult since so many have fallen away from the faith but Gods Word never promised it would be easy but it's our responsibility to do. I'm guessing you've got an older church population with not many younger families? If so, that equates to a dying church and will need to be addressed or all of this won't really matter.
I think a lot of prayer is needed along with a plan on how to bring more families into the church not only for the benefit of the church but for the families as well. I'll keep you and your church in my prayers.
 
What ever solution the congregation decides is going to be an expense.

Thought. Rent or use another building for services. Years back the Catholic church allowed another denomination to use their building for services while the other building was being repaired. Services were scheduled for different times. Also when in the military, some posts only had one church. All denominations use the same building.
 
obtaining a loan is not an option since our income is lower than our expenses. We have tried repeatedly to increase membership, but in a 5 mile circle around the tow of Potosi, and anyone that is interested in church is attending one..We had a pretty good size congregation several years go, but tihin the period of a year many of them were transferred out due to work, or retired and moved back home. We are left with only 3 families that can afford to give anything and another 3 that are barely getting by.
 
I know the past year and half, especially last year, a lot of churches were closed down due to Covid. Our church did live Facebook for the whole month of April last year, and then we kept the live Facebook going since then. But income was down a bit. In our area, John's and mine, you can't throw a rock without hitting a church, so it's hard to increase a congregation without pouching (one pastor described it as "fishing in someone else's pond) another church.
 
A couple small churches around here are facing the same problem with membership. The young ones could care less about church or us old people now days.
 
John *.?-!.* cub owner":3a4pg143 said:
Transport members to another Church of Christ each Sunday in a van.
Click to expand...
Perhaps doable. Church vans cost money.

Next thought. Hold services at member's homes on a rotating basis. Atleast for a while, until the church members see how things go.
 
Repair it and have one or more fund raisers to help pay for it. You’d be surprised how much you can raise with fund raisers. You could have a spaghetti dinner. Many local grocery stores will donate or discount supplies. How about a gofundme page on Facebook?
 
I think your options are to merge with another church, schedule your services at an available time in another church, or go with one of the other options for meeting elsewhere. Even if a fund raiser got enough money for the entire repair (which is unlikely), It would only extend your finances for another 10 or 12 years beyond your worst case projection. Even that assumes you don't loose one of your "3 families that can afford to give anything".
 
John,

Just some thoughts on what we experienced in our church. Yes, attendance was larger than yours, however, we generated enough to pay off a $130,000 mortgage in just two or three months, without affecting weekly giving.

We challenged members to convert unused assets into cash, a few examples:
- a small crawler tractor that had been setting in a fencerow for years
- a unique pencil collection - really
- an unneeded life insurance policy cashed out to the church
- selling used clothing patterns on ebay (yes, there is a market for them)
- selling unused road worthy vehicles
- others that I don't remember at this time

We were amazed at how much "stuff" we had, that we weren't using, that could be converted to cash then given to the church. There are people out there that will give good (sometimes, really good) money for our "stuff." There were three or four families (no names given, just the amount) that pushed donations approaching $10,000 really hard. Our congregation was happy and excited to do this -- lots of smiling faces and high fives.

Bill
 
We were contacted today by one of the companies we have been asking for prices to repair the building. They told us of a company that specializes in repairing buildings with failing trusses. They do everything from the inside. The existing roof and trusses do not have to come off and be replaced. The ceiling will have to be replaced, but we can live with that. They will be in the area in a few days and will look at ours while they are here.
 
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