The failing economy forces more than homes into foreclosure

Written by: Alisa Bennett '11

         The Pledge of Allegiance clearly states “One nation under God…” But what happens when the nation just isn’t enough to support God?

       It is not a secret that the current U.S. economy is in a slump, a 1.3 trillion dollar slump in fact. Small business owners and local family-owned chains are falling and dropping off the face of the earth one by one because they can no longer afford to keep a steady flow of income to pay for their mortgages and operating costs. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones. Churches around the country have been forced to close down and give up their sanctuaries because of lack of funding and government support.
       “Religious organizations may be subject to the laws of God but they are also subject to the laws of economics," said Chris Macke, senior real-estate strategist at CoStar in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Michigan, along with other states such as California and Georgia, are the states who will be the most affected by these churches closings because they are among the list of states that are currently experiencing the highest home-foreclosure rates.

         Even though churches are non-profit organizations, they still need a sum of money to run their services and partake in community-based services. A significant amount of the money churches acquire comes from donations provided by those who are members of the congregation and/or community. However, because of the economic crisis, a lot of people have significantly decreased the amount of money that they are willing to donate to the church because they have their own personal bills to pay.

         Instead of completely shutting down their congregations, some churches have decided to merge together in order to help each other make ends meet.

         Some banks try their best to help out churches and make deals with them because they don’t want to “foreclose on God.” Despite this fact, there are still churches who decide to just take the easier way out and just let the bank take their property.

Stretched to the limit, the pastors stopped making payments.
         "I just told the bank to take it," said Pastor Oliver of the Family Christian Center. "If you're a church with a piece of property upside down and no one will refinance the loan or lend you more money, there's not really another choice but to walk away."

          Luckily, people are still keeping their heads held high and a positive outlook in their minds.

         "A building does not make a church. We will find a way to continue," Mr. Zapara, a Sacramento pastor said

          Indeed, a building does not make a church, but will services be the same without the holy chapels? Only time will tell what will become of these sanctuaries.