Shrinking sanctuaries

Bob Mathers gives the homily to the 20 people who attended the Sunday service at Alliance Bible Chapel. Photos by Thom Larkin | Daily Tidings

When churches find themselves poor in membership but rich in property, the answer is often to sell the building and regroup. Several Ashland congregations are seeking to sell, but a slow real estate market is holding up the process.

Calvary Baptist Church on East Main Street has been on the market since 2006, since its membership dwindled to 10. The church stopped Sunday services and turned over the property to the Northwest Baptist Foundation to manage. The foundation has rented the space to Rogue Valley Church for the past year, but it has negotiated with developers, hoping to use proceeds from a sale to start a new congregation and fund new ministries.

"As time went on, we saw that we really needed to focus on more than just a handful of very senior people," said Calvary member Gordon Robinson, 78. "We decided we might as well close down, sell the whole property and make a new start. ...We regretted very much having to do it, but we decided we were just spinning our wheels where we were."

The property is valued at $365,000, according to Jackson County records, and Robinson said the church would prefer to see that money used to reach out to families, children, college students and Spanish speakers throughout the Rogue Valley, as well as the seniors the church already was serving.

Faith Tabernacle, renamed City on a Hill, moved from its property on Faith Street last year and is renting space in Phoenix until members find suitable land to rebuild, said Levi Wine, whose father is the pastor of the church.

"The building was just a little too big for our congregation and we really just didn't have the funds to support it," he said.

Before the move, attendance was around 75 on Sundays, and it has dropped to about 50 now that City on a Hill does not have a permanent home, Wine said.

The Faith Street building was razed and the church won approval from the Ashland Planning Commission in July 2007 to divide the property into nine lots, but the church still owns the land, valued at $507,000, according to county records.

Rivergate Church on Garfield Street has been up for sale for a year, but the church has agreed to host Bellview Elementary kindergarten and first-grade students next year while the school is under construction.

"There's really no market," said the Rev. Ron Timen, pastor of the church. "In the interim, we'll just carry on."

The church is not seeking to leave town, but members would like a smaller building with lower maintenance and utility costs, Timen said. The 17,000-square-foot building, which dates back to 1965, is too large for the size of the congregation, he said.

The Family Life Bible Church on C Street has also been on the market for about six months, and the price was recently lowered from $1.2 million to $995,000, according to a Gateway real estate agent. The church declined to comment on the details of its move.

The Faith Tabernacle has been knocked down and the land on Faith Street is for sale.

Churches have always come and gone, said Bob Mathers, 76, who has led the Alliance Bible Chapel on Siskiyou Boulevard for the past 30 years.

Although his church has an aging congregation of around 30 members, the church is not looking to sell, Mathers said.

"I've been surprised that we have held as long as we have," he said. "I imagine some people look at it and say it's been a failure and, no, it hasn't been a failure. We've got people in the mission fields; we feel like it's been a good run."

Mathers estimated utilities and other fees the church pays have increased tenfold during his tenure, but the church has only ended two fiscal years in the red, he said. This year, pledges were higher than they have been in several years, he said.

Although Mathers receives some income from the church, he is buoyed by a Social Security check. If he left, he is not sure the church could support another pastor, and the denomination would likely sell the building to start fresh, he said.

Larger churches also have made efforts to keep members.

First United Methodist Church, for example, has a national brand that helps attract retirees moving to Ashland. But the church is still trying to attract families with children, a needed demographic to make the organization sustainable in the long run, said Graham Lewis, operations manager for the church.

"It's an aging community and, if they're not getting new people joining, it's going to die," he said.

Staff writer Julie French can be reached at 482-3456 ext. 227 or jfrench@dailytidings.com.