New book offers help on how to transition church properties

Congregations facing closure or downsizing must think about more than maximizing profits from the sale of facilities and other assets, social entrepreneur and church finance expert Mark Elsdon said.

“The principle here is that we have been entrusted as stewards with these assets, these properties, and this money,” said Elsdon, editor of Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition.

“Hopefully, we have used these gifts for the good of others during the time we had them, but none of them are ultimately ours and the idea that we should seek the maximum simply because we own them is fundamentally flawed.”