{"id":255,"date":"2014-03-21T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html"},"modified":"2014-05-30T20:21:04","modified_gmt":"2014-05-31T01:21:04","slug":"church-membership-down-churches-sell-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html","title":{"rendered":"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/433\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-KN676T5BFjM\/UyiiDO2HwTI\/AAAAAAAAFfI\/4op4NvRum_8\/s1600\/JP-CHURCHES-1-articleLarge+(1).jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/433\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-KN676T5BFjM\/UyiiDO2HwTI\/AAAAAAAAFfI\/4op4NvRum_8\/s400\/JP-CHURCHES-1-articleLarge+(1).jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"365\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Wow! We\u2019ve heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in trouble.<\/p>\n<p>Here the Rev. Peter Morales of the Unitarian Universalist Association walks down the grand staircase of the church\u2019s Beacon Hill property in Boston. Like church properties elsewhere, Unitarians are selling this property and moving to a less \u00a0glitzy part of Boston. Denominations like the Unitarians are selling valuable properties and downsizing for a number of reasons, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/16\/us\/denominations-downsizing-and-selling-assets-in-more-secular-era.html?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">according to the New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Those reasons include poor finances and the need for more contemporary office space. \u00a0But The Times suggests that the real reason for the sales has to do with the increasing secularization of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Unitarians are not alone. The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are selling 34 properties in Brooklyn. The United Methodists are selling thier publishing house and other properties in Nashville. The American Baptist Churches in King of Prussia, Pa are renting part of their space. The Reform Jewish movement are sellling one of their floors in Manhattan.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow! We\u2019ve heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in trouble. Here the Rev. Peter Morales of the Unitarian Universalist Association walks down the grand staircase of the church\u2019s Beacon Hill property in Boston. Like church properties [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wow! We&#039;ve heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wow! We&#039;ve heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Religions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-21T06:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-31T01:21:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-KN676T5BFjM\/UyiiDO2HwTI\/AAAAAAAAFfI\/4op4NvRum_8\/s400\/JP-CHURCHES-1-articleLarge+(1).jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"George G. Coe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George G. Coe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html\",\"name\":\"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-21T06:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-31T01:21:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#\/schema\/person\/c8608c711b76ea4be3eb28f4ed317e2f\"},\"description\":\"Wow! We've heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/\",\"name\":\"World Religions\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#\/schema\/person\/c8608c711b76ea4be3eb28f4ed317e2f\",\"name\":\"George G. Coe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/author\/gccoe\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property","description":"Wow! We've heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property","og_description":"Wow! We've heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html","og_site_name":"World Religions","article_published_time":"2014-03-21T06:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-31T01:21:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-KN676T5BFjM\/UyiiDO2HwTI\/AAAAAAAAFfI\/4op4NvRum_8\/s400\/JP-CHURCHES-1-articleLarge+(1).jpg"}],"author":"George G. Coe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George G. Coe","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html","name":"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-21T06:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-31T01:21:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#\/schema\/person\/c8608c711b76ea4be3eb28f4ed317e2f"},"description":"Wow! We've heard \u00a0for a while now that church membership is way down. \u00a0But this story in the New York Times offers more proof that churches are in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/03\/church-membership-down-churches-sell-property.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Church Membership Down: Churches Sell Property"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/","name":"World Religions","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/#\/schema\/person\/c8608c711b76ea4be3eb28f4ed317e2f","name":"George G. Coe","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/author\/gccoe"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1838"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}