When Churches Close

Two churches have closed in the past six months in the Cincinnati Area. They provide an opportunity to learn, even in churches that are thriving.

Both of these churches were running over 80 participants and members just two years ago. One was strongly congregationally-led and the other was pastor-led. They both made decisions that prevented turn-arounds. One church pushed out the pastor through a confrontation meeting, while the other church’s members just left the church and went elsewhere when problems arose.

At the end, the first church voted 14 to 8 to be adopted by a thriving Southern Baptist church plant. The second church’s pastor called a business meeting and together the last seven members signed a letter using just their initials to give their church property to our Baptist association.

Here are five lessons that may be useful to your church’s leadership:

1. Make sure that your constitution or by-laws gives your church property to CABA if it were to one day close. A team in the association will determine the best way forward including options like an SBC replant, become a satellite of an SBC church, or provide a low-cost sale or possibly gift to an evangelical church that wants it. In the meantime, the association can manage the property and schedule pulpit supply until a decision is made. In some cases, it may be most prudent to shut the church down for a season if there is no interest in the property.

2. Monitor available funds closely. How have giving patterns changed? Can you project how long you can continue to meet given how much is in the bank? Can certain expenses be cut like Internet at the church, waste disposal, or even a smaller water meter be installed? In one church the bulbs have never been converted to LED’s and when power was restored after an outage, all the thermostats re-set to 68 degrees. In another church, there was an open window and an unlocked door.

3. Make sure you pass along passwords to all accounts. The association will need to have representatives who are recognized as officers of CABA on the church’s bank account. The last treasurer of the church needs to meet with you at the church’s bank. Keep that bank account separate from the association’s bank account. Keep track of any changes that are made to passwords or access to accounts.

4. Sometimes churches have building funds or other designated savings accounts. Work with the treasurer to determine the best way to handle these accounts. One church repaid donors who had given to the building fund before closing out that account at the bank. Also be aware that some churches have small safes that need access. In one church, there was more than $80 in change and small bills in plastic containers.

5. Assess the physical needs of your church. One church no longer had a working air conditioner to the sanctuary. They had gotten an estimate exceeding $40,000 for repairs and ignored it choosing to use inefficient window units. A five-acre lot needed to be mowed. A history of break-ins meant that my name had to become the police’s contact point.

Finally, let me add that the two churches turned inward with one church having six baptisms in the past three years, but the other had 26 baptisms in the past three years. However, their backdoor was bigger than their front door. People were leaving in significant numbers. Both churches’ leaders felt that if they just had a different pastor and better worship music that people would once-again flood into the church and the church would be revitalized. And that never happened.

These examples were meant to get you thinking about your own church. Its assumptions for the road toward revitalization might need to be evaluated. Perhaps the association can help you take corrective steps that glorifies Christ.

--Mark Snowden serves as director for the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association

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