For the last several years, the church has seen its membership decline, leaving more than two-thirds of the 500-seat chapel vacant.
After great debate by both the church's staff and parishioners, the University District mainstay church-goers will relocate as soon as a buyer is found for the building.
OPEN TO OPTIONS
Last November, the congregation decided unanimously to sell the building. The church actively searched for a buyer who would make it available for low-income housing.
"We worked hard to explore ways for low-income housing to come and occupy the building," said Martha Bean, the church's moderator. The church owns both the 82-year old building and the property at 4554 12th Avenue N.E. "We don't really know what's going to happen now."
Bean said that for now, they are simply looking for a buyer. She mentioned that neighboring churches, nonprofit organizations, developers and private investors have all approached the church, but no sale has taken place.
Though the building will inevitably be sold, the congregation will survive and relocate, though they have yet to settle upon a destination. According to Bean, the fellowship has not ruled out the possibility of leasing space from the future buyer.
"It's conceivable that we might be leased the property back," said Bean, who has been with the church since the early 1990s. "For now, we don't know where we will be, but we've got options."
A LARGER CONCERN
The Rev. Timothy Phillips, who has been the church's pastor since 1996, said that the drop in attendance and financial shortcomings are the product of a larger concern for churches like University Baptist.
While Washington ranks among the least-churched states in the United States, Phillips said that he has noticed a shift in the country's religious climate; as a result, churches such as University Baptist are hemorrhaging members and losing money.
"Larger churches of the more conservative variety are doing what mainline churches did 80 to 100 years ago," Phillips explained. "Churches like Mars Hill [which has locations throughout the Seattle area] are expanding the way you would have seen Baptist churches do in the 1920s."
According to both Bean and Phillips, University Baptist Church plans to expand its services and programs once the building is sold, using the building's capital for new endeavors.
"There are so many cool things we will be able to do once the sale goes through," Bean said. "Without material things, we are free to work in new ways, and there's a lot of excitement about the future within our congregation."
The church currently belongs to both the University District Ecumenical Parish and University District Ecumenical Campus Coalition, both of which University Baptist will continue to be involved in. The two organizations were formed to encourage unity among the University District's churches.
"This congregation has truly bound together to remain intact through the complications," Phillips said. "For now, we are an intact congregation, hoping to make an impact in the community, and who we are is not dependent upon the building we occupy."
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