Intown churches—closed, closing, or in danger of closing? (Atlanta: fit in, apartments)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Wasn't something supposed to happen to Druid Hills Baptist at the corner of Ponce and Highland? Such a beautiful building!

That said, I have heard that quite a few older intown churches are thriving again, thanks to so many new younger families moving in. One that comes to mind is Grace UMC on Ponce. Also, new congregations have taken over dying or previously abandoned church properties. A great example is St Paul's Presbyterian at the corner of Ponce and Piedmont, which of course was the Catholic monk-themed restaurant The Abbey for many years. Talk about a REVIVAL! And there are quite a few new contemporary congregations scattered all throughout the city, including the aforementioned Passion City Church at Lindbergh and The Bridge Church at Atlantic Station.

Any inner-city church should be able to thrive in these modern times as long as they try to meet people where they are. The greatest "tale of two churches" story in Atlanta religious history, perhaps, is that of First Baptist Atlanta and St Mark UMC. As most people know, FBC Atlanta used to be located on Peachtree Street between 4th and 5th right across the street from St Mark. But the extreme right / fundamentalist / conservative theology preached by senior pastor Charles Stanley clashed with its Midtown neighbors, particularly the gay community. On Pride Sundays, FBC would dismiss early and hire armed security guards to line the property. St Mark across the street, in contrast, would hand out water to parade participants and invite them to services. FBC eventually abandoned Midtown and fled to Dunwoody. The beautiful old FBC sanctuary (built in the 1920s) met the wrecking ball. But St Mark is, of course, today a thriving congregation with multiple Sunday services to accommodate the crowds of worshippers who reflect the neighborhood around it.

Grace was on the verge of bankruptcy. They got saved by selling their school building to the National Methodist ministries who moved offices there. Unless they have turned around dramatically in the last two years, they are not "thriving."

There are a lot of small churches in town. Prior to the merger of Epworth and Druid Hill UMCs, I could count 8 Methodist churches within a couple miles of me. There may be more.

Veritas church on Ponce has moved. Their facility in that old mansion is for sale. I don't remember exactly where, maybe a strip center on N. Decatur, but I saw the smaller location where they had relocated.

[ericsonga]

I will be so sad to see Druid Hills UMC building torn down. It's such a gracious and refined building. I would like to think it could be re-purposed.

So many small churches in town and even in the suburbs are struggling and have recently closed. Ormewood Park Presbyterian closed just a few years ago. I'm not entirely sure how Rock Springs Presbyterian keeps the doors open, but I know they recently sold some excess land in the back for a nice sum. I am a member of Morningside Presbyterian, and while we aren't gangbusters busy, we have steadily increased our congregation to almost 500, which is double what it was 10-15 years ago. Hopefully others can find their niche and continue to serve the communities in which they reside.

[Clayton white guy]

With Intown congregations, it really seems, "It is the best of times; it is the worst of times." to paraphrase Charles Dickens. Some City of Atlanta churches are thriving, some are in steep decline. I DO know two things:

1. God's Word will never return void.

2. The Gospel still 'works'! ;0)

[demonta4]

If a church is operating correctly and giving to their communities I have no problem with them not paying taxes. It's those who take money and buys jets and mansions that I don't like, but those are the ones that seem to be growing unfortunately.

[Atlwarrior]

Let's be clear here, most traditional churches have suffered for many years and will continue die, while contemporary ministries and places of worship still thrives, churches also have online internet services, and home groups.

Furthermore the IRS as an Executive Federal Administrative agency who set tax rules that govern tax breaks for churches, not public opinion.

The Church is not a building but people, so to remove a close or re-purpose a building is not a big deal or something strange or unusual.

World Changers starting in elementary school, before moving to a chapel off Burdette Road and eventually building a dome, and purchasing a shopping center.

Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church was brought out by the airport.

Passion Church purchase the huge golf store building and converted it.

The Falcons demolished a church for the Mercedes Stadium.

Church buildings are either completely remove or re-purposed in Atlanta all the time. It's nothing new!

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by demonta4

If a church is operating correctly and giving to their communities I have no problem with them not paying taxes. It's those who take money and buys jets and mansions that I don't like, but those are the ones that seem to be growing unfortunately.

These 2 short articles nicely sum up my view on the matter:

How To Make $71 Billion A Year: Tax the Churches | Big Think

While the desire to tax churches is not new, it seems as far from reality as possible at this moment. As has been commented, no atheist could possibly hope to win an election in today’s political climate—a freethinking man like Robert Ingersoll would have no influence with the majority of our electorate. Our cultural dependency on the necessity of faith is affecting our society: According to a University of Tampa study, not taxing churches is taking an estimated $71 billion from our economy every year, and this fact remains largely unquestioned.

Churches should be taxed: Then everyone can speak.

Amelia Thomson-Deveaux has a great piece about religious groups that are trying to remove restrictions on church-based electioneering. She suggests that rather than gutting the rules, there's a simple fix, "Religious leaders who want the liberty to endorse candidates can give up their churches’ tax deduction."

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

These 2 short articles nicely sum up my view on the matter:

How To Make $71 Billion A Year: Tax the Churches | Big Think



Churches should be taxed: Then everyone can speak.

Its called fake news. Lots of ignorance on churches in that article.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by bu2

Its called fake news. Lots of ignorance on churches in that article.

Or, they're accurate, modcut

Going by your complete lack of presented evidence to support your claim, and your generally dubious posting history around here, I'll go with the latter as being much more likely.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Or, they're accurate, modcut


Going by your complete lack of presented evidence to support your claim, and your generally dubious posting history around here, I'll go with the latter as being much more likely.

There's so much wrong with the article its not worth starting. Its just someone who hates churches and isn't familiar with what they actually do.

Do you want to explain your extensive personal experience with churches and tell us why you think this is right? If you have experience with bad churches, I'm willing to listen.

The article doesn't describe any church I've ever attended. And since I've been a church member of several different churches over decades and have many church going friends, I'm not ignorant on the topic.

[jeoff]

So they demolished the church on the corner of Briarcliff and Ponce, and I believe the church in the linear park off South Ponce and Clifton is not long for this world (I think the Tudor attached to it will survive).
Funny, I haven’t been in any of these churches, but I can’t help feeling a little sentimental. They were always the landmarks of my youth, and they were much more than that to many other people.