Renting Your Church

Close relationships with other religious groups require a great deal of diplomacy.

CLIFFORD F. BLACK, Minister, Ohio Conference

CLOSE relationships with other religious groups re­quire a great deal of di­plomacy. IiVe do, how­ever, find ways of "agree­ing to disagree," and as a matter of convenience we find it possible and frequently profitable to enter into business ar­rangements of mutual advantage with other churches. One of the most common of such arrangements is the rental of the church building from another group, or to another group.

Knowing that a little controversy exists concerning the propriety of such rentals—at least, when we are the renter—I want to emphasize that this is not written in an attempt to resolve that controversy. For the purposes.of this discussion I wish to assume that all such arrangements are perfectly ethical so long as they are entered into with a view to benefiting both the lessor and the lessee. It is true that at times we find it necessary to ask for the privilege of renting other churches, and as a conse­quence it is perfectly reasonable that we should return the same courtesy to others. It would seem only logical to suggest, how­ever, that such agreements should bring blessing to both parties.

However, a situation presently exists with regard to one particular denomina­tion and requires some heart searching; at least, this is my opinion. It would seem to me that something is ethically wrong with a nationwide pattern of rental arrange­ments on the part of an entire denomina­tion that relieves that denomination of most of the responsibility and of all neces­sity to provide permanent houses of wor­ship for its congregations, or for those con­gregations to provide such facilities for themselves.

Though there may be occasional excep­tions, it is generally the intention of Sev­enth-day Adventists to provide a house of worship for themselves. It may be neces­sary for a small or new church to enter into some rental arrangement with an­other denomination for a while, until the funds necessary for the purchase or con­struction of a suitable church are raised. But it would seem to be generally accepted as a principle among us that we should not think in terms of making such rental arrangements permanent. Sooner or later the honor, the joy, and the security of dedicating a place of worship to God for our own use becomes possible. It would seem only reasonable that this would be a matter of pride for any church group. Therefore, the church that rents from other churches with no intention of even­tually providing its own facilities brings into question its right to existence, and its right to the respect of the community. And even more so when this appears to be a widespread policy within this denomina­tion and takes on nationwide proportions!

It may not always be so, but in cases that I have had personal experience with, the congregation of this denomination in the community where they desired to use our facilities was approximately the same in number as our own. This would imply that their resources and ours would be approximately the same. It seems strange to me that our people should sacrifice to provide facilities for themselves at an in­vestment of thousands of dollars so that others could promote a faith that is for­eign to our own for a few dollars a week! Thus, with only a paltry investment of money they have the same base from which to promote their activities that we have achieved at great sacrifice. This would be of only local and temporary sig­nificance if it were merely a local and tem­porary situation. But this seems to be the accepted pattern of operation, tending to permanency, and over a wide area, for the denomination of which I speak.

Seventh-day Adventist churches in many communities are entering into agreements with the local members of this denomina­tion. I am not suggesting that these agree­ments be terminated, but I am urging that our people take a long look at them.

In one community where this rental ar­rangement had been carried on for about seven years—with no signs of ending—the Adventist church actually became known as the local church of this other denomina­tion! The residents in the vicinity of the church thought that services were held on Saturday only because the congregation had a large number of weddings!

It is worth some notice, too, that our denominational name has within it one word that is the same as theirs, and other­wise has certain syllabic similarities which make it easy for others to confuse the two. It would only be natural that when we have the same house of worship in addi­tion to a name with these similarities, lo­cal citizens would complete the identifica­tion of Seventh-day Adventists with the other denomination in their thinking. From this the cause of truth in any com­munity is doomed to suffer greatly.

I am convinced that temporary rental of church facilities, when this is convenient, can be a great financial boon to a congre­gation; and if at the same time we are as­sisting another struggling group to im­prove its situation, then we are doubly blessed. But I am equally convinced that there is no blessing in making such ar­rangements permanent. When this hap­pens, the congregation may relax its own commitment to the upkeep of the Lord's house. With money coming in regularly and over a long period of time, our own congregations tend gradually to adjust to the relief from the pressure of financially sustaining the local work. This is not to our profit! The spiritual loss is incalcu­lable.

Rental arrangements that result in profit and blessing for both parties are possible. But at the same time we must recognize that there can be some arrangements which bring a curse to both parties. I write here in the interest of promoting only those situations that are of profit, both financially and spiritually, to the cause of God. It would seem to me that we would also be doing the greatest favor to our friends of other denominations if we en­couraged them to know the satisfaction of having their own house of worship.


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CLIFFORD F. BLACK, Minister, Ohio Conference

July 1967

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