Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • April 9, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com T he building housing Hart- ford's Faith Congregational Church, one of the city's oldest African-American congregations, is for sale at $1 million — the latest in a growing chorus of current and former Connecti- cut houses of worship moving into their next phase of ownership and operation. The 24,650-square-foot, 500-seat church at 2030 N. Main St., in the North End, is one of nearly a dozen African-American and Hispanic churches along a one-mile stretch of North Main Street, known to locals as "church row.'' The 147-year-old sanctu- ary on 0.88 acres is being offered to an "investor or owner/user.'' "Our building is very large and our need to continue in ministry as a con- gregation has us looking for a smaller venue from which we can do ministry in the future," Faith's pastor, Rev. Stephen W. Camp, said via email. "We want to get right-sized, so as to continue ministry into the next generation." According to real-estate listings data from CoStar Group, there are 19 church or religious properties for sale in Connecticut. Most are part of the Archdiocese of Hartford and owned by each parish independently. The uptick in church properties for sale reflects the growing financial pres- sures many churches — regardless of denomination — face. It also reflects, some observers say, a steady shift in Americans' attitudes about religion. "The shape of Christianity in America is changing,'' said Harold Attridge, a New Testament professor and former dean at Yale Divinity School. "Demo- graphics and the numbers of the faithful are declining. What we're seeing is the development of a more secular society." "Many churches,'' Attridge said, "are thinking about how to continue their missions, how to reach out to people and welcome them to their congregations.'' While Protestant churches have experienced membership and atten- dance declines, evangelical churches' style of worship, less bound to Protes- tant rites and traditions, have grown in appeal, Attridge said. Even with their exemption from local property taxes and state and federal income taxes, observers say today's churches often struggle to generate enough revenue to cover heat and electric bills, and payroll, particularly in the face of slowing church attendance, hence collections. Sometimes, selling buildings or other assets is the only financial option for congregations, officials say. Selling a church, however, can be tough. Like homes and commercial- industrial buildings, worship sanctuar- ies tend to be built for a singular use, sometimes containing one-off features, such as baptism pools, pipe organs and balconies, that make them less suitable as offices or apartments. Many also have parking lots, lawns and greens- paces. Rev. Harry Riggs, executive minis- ter for American Baptist Churches of Connecticut, a collective of 119 Baptist congregations in the state, said shrink- ing attendance and collections is prob- lematic for his members because, unlike the Catholic Church, Baptists and most religious denominations do not combine or share financial and other resources. "If a Baptist church doesn't have money,'' Riggs said, "it's because that church doesn't have money. We can't go to a central clearinghouse for funding.'' Archdiocese sales According to church officials, the Archdiocese of Hartford conducted over the last three years an extensive strategic review of its church assets, worshipper attendance and its corps of priests, said Paul Connery, the archdiocese's director of property and assets. The result is that some of its church- es and church schools were closed or consolidated. The archdiocese today counts 127 parishes down from 212 be- fore the mergers and closures, he said. The archdiocese designated 26 of its parish buildings for closure, Connery said. Of those, 10 are listed for sale or are under contract to be sold. Three other archdiocese properties have already sold, Connery said. In An- sonia, a Pentecostal congregation paid $585,000 for one of its former churches there. In New Haven, a Chabad rabbinic Prayerful Pitch As worshiping patterns shift, more CT churches are showing up on the sales block Among Connecticut church properties listed for sale is the Archdiocese of Hartford's buildings at 121-125 Market Street (main photo above) in downtown Hartford, former home to Catholic Charities. Other churches for sale include properties in (starting top right): Wallingford, Vernon, Mystic, Hartford's North End and South Windsor. HBJ PHOTO | GREG BORDONARO PHOTOS | LOOPNET

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