Churches for sale

For sale: Former United Methodist Church, features red brick exterior, original pews, working belfry and is in a quiet neighborhood.

The $90,000, 3,000-square-foot church, marketed by realtor Phil Williams, of Pounders and Associates, includes a fellowship hall and seven classrooms upstairs along with the place of worship.

The two adjacent cemeteries, however, are not for sale. "We're not in the business of selling dead bodies," Williams said.

Church members often have bake sales and raffles to raise money for capital improvements, mission work and other projects, but more rarely, an actual church comes up for sale. It's an uncomfortable reality for cash-strapped congregations without enough money to maintain their offerings.

In other cases, churches outgrow their home and require more space.

The Phil Campbell United Methodist Church officially closed June 10, 2007, according to Janette Clifton, director of communication for the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

By the end of 2006, only 39 members remained.

"It was pretty much an inactive church before it was closed," Clifton said.

The Phil Campbell church isn't alone - in fact this year the United Methodist organization saw a spike in church closings across north Alabama.

The North Alabama Conference closed 18 churches this year, nearly doubled from previous years when eight or nine churches might close. Putting the trend in perspective, the United Methodist Church has 845 churches across north Alabama.

"It's not that unique to have a church (for sale); it's not unlike other property," said Gregg Pounders, president of Pounders and Associates. "We hope someone would take it and put it to good use of a similar purpose," Pounders said. "It would not be unusual for another church to purchase this property."

There aren't any listed procedures used to transform a former holy place into secular space, Clifton said, but any profits on the sale of a church go back into a start-up fund for new ministries.

"This ministry, its life has come to a close, but its life will go on in another congregation in another part of the district," Clifton said.

The issue of shrinking or shifting congregations is not unique to one denomination.

For sale in Tuscumbia: A white 2,000-square-foot church priced at $47,900. A listing for the property states: "Can be used as church or office building. Furniture stays. Church is also contingent on the sellers finding another location."

Tori Almon, realtor with Real Estate Masters, said the former Church of Christ has been on the market on and off for nearly two years.

Mainly small startup churches expressed interest in the property, but Almon said new owner financing would sweeten the deal for congregations that may not have much cash on hand.

"A lot of people in this price range, they can't get the money," she said.

The former Tuscumbia congregation upgraded to a foreclosed church in Florence, Almon said.

She said another challenge to selling the Tuscumbia property is its site next door to the Helen Keller house.

"The parking has a lot to do with it not selling as well," Almon said. "I got a lot of confidence that it will sell with the owner financing."

Churches, which function as community and spiritual centers, are actually zoned as commercial property.

"We treat it as a commercial property; we have a lot of methods we use (to market the property)," Pounders said. "Obviously, technology is one of them."

As commercial real estate, churches can end up being used in many ways.

Multi-media artist Ethan Acres transformed one church in Sheffield into "The Church of the Holy Fool." During a recent visit, Acres declined to allow a reporter access to the church, citing dangerous fumes from a fiberglass project upstairs.

Acres later called from Los Angeles where he was installing a piece of his art.

"All my work deals with my relationship with religion, so the church was a perfect place for me to investigate my own spirituality and relationship with God," Acres said. "On the practical side, it's a perfect structure to make art - a large space with good ventilation."

Acres bought the church, which is a former Seventh-day Adventist among other denominations, two years ago and started living in it a year ago with his wife.

"Church of the Holy Fool is a ministry dedicated to the expression of religious ecstasy through irrational and absurdist behavior," Acres states in his Web site. "Eventually the church will serve as a monastic retreat for artists to live and work in the mysterious region known as the Deep South."

In more conventional cases, a congregation will take over a nearby church as was the case with Woodmont Baptist Church in Florence, which purchased a church across the street that became the east campus, according to church officials.

Steve Thompson, administrator at Woodmont Baptist Church, said the church purchased Darby Drive Church of Christ in 2002 and obtained possession nearly four years later. Darby Drive Church of Christ built a new church on Cox Creek Parkway.

"It was a win-win situation for both of us; we were both looking for additional space," Thompson said. "It's been a good use - the additional facility."

Across the road from Acres' artist space, the Southern Boulevard Church of Christ is for sale.

Knee-high grass spills over the sidewalk along the red brick, A-frame building.

A paper sign stuck to the door states: "A New Congregation!!!" and introduces the Tri-Cities Church of Christ.

"The old Southern Boulevard church and the Wilson Dam Road church have agreed to come together as one new congregation to do the work the Lord has entrusted to us in this area," the sign states.

Reached by cell phone, preacher Grant Caldwell said that after the two churches merged, the congregation decided the Wilson Dam Road church was a better location.

"We're wanting to sell the property and then we would have those funds to use for expansion and growth at the new location," Caldwell said.

In some cases, churches skip past the steeple and sanctuary and instead set up in store fronts. This trend is most common in Russellville, where store front churches have names such as Dream Center Fellowship, Iglesia Bethel Del Congreso Internacional Principe de Paz Inc., My Father's House Ministries, Iglesia Pentecostes Restaurada Mana Internacional Misionera, and The International Council of the Evangelic Church of the Prince of Peace The Good Way.

"It's not my ideal, but the Lord led us here. I really wanted a regular church-type building, but the Lord moved and brought me here," said Donnie Borden, pastor of the Church of God in Russellville.

On a recent Wednesday, Borden and his wife got ready for Bible study. He estimated his congregation at five to 17 people, "depending on what night, who's sick, who's out of town."

Business owners have complained in the past that the churches take up commercial space that could generate tax revenue for the city. Some have questioned whether churches are legal in commercial zoned property.

According to the Code of Alabama that Russellville follows for zoning laws, downtown business districts states "churches, or similar places of worship" are eligible in commercial zones.

"People that come to church here, they are paying their taxes," Borden said. "They may not have a tax base such as the retail businesses, but at the same time, they are taxpayers."

On a recent tour, Phil Williams said the former United Methodist Church in Phil Campbell has received interest from another church, a civic group and an Arizona couple who looked at the church as a possible home.

In one upstairs classroom, a poster board showed a display of the church when it was active around 1998. Photos showed congregation members of all ages under the title "Strengths of the Phil Campbell Methodist Church."

By the barren kitchen, a July 2006 calendar remains. Padded pews remain in the church with the hymn books removed. Williams finds an offering basket with "a buck 20" in it.

By the greeting area, a rope hangs down, attached to a bell that still sings out its single tone.

"It's musty in there, but all in all, it's in pretty good shape," Williams said. "You could move right on in."

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@TimesDaily.com.