The prospects are dim for construction of new churches during 1967. Church-builders, like home-builders, are caught in the squeeze between inflation in construction costs and the “tight money” market with its scarce loans and high interest rates.
The director of the National Council of Churches building commission, S. Turner Ritenour, says “almost every denomination” finds tight money has slowed its church construction program, although he and other spokesmen think other, non-economic forces such as denominational strategy or lay interest may be factors as well.
Figures now being compiled in denominational offices are almost certain to show a significant drop-off in church building during 1966. Some churches are putting building plans on ice, and fewer loan requests are coming to denominational headquarters. But other officials find “tight money” has sent churches rushing to national funds for help they would normally seek from local banks.
B. P. Murphy of The Methodist Church says that the increase in requests is “tremendous” but that virtually none of the Methodists’ $30 million revolving fund is available. And Richard Kent of the Episcopalians’ American Church Building Fund says, “We are just about at the bottom of the barrel.” He expects all his loan money (a mere $1.7 million, although the Episcopal Church Foundation makes some non-interest loans through bishops) will be “tied up until the middle of 1967.” The Southern Baptists’ Robert Kilgore says he has “little leeway” for loans.
Dale Lechleitner, home missions chief of The American Lutheran Church, reported three weeks ago that tight money has cut sharply the denomination’s program of building new churches. In 1965, sixty-five missions were established, but there were only thirty-eight in 1966. He fears the number will drop below twenty this year.
At least two major denominations, however, are sitting pretty during the current economic doldrums. Astute United Presbyterians floated a $20 million loan a year ago from New York Life Insurance Company at 51/8 per cent interest. If the 1966 loan-request rate holds up, this will tide the Presbyterians over the next two years, says D. Allan Locke, treasurer of the Board of National Missions.
The United Church of Christ is not hit by the current crisis because it needs no bank or insurance-company loans to buttress its $16 million revolving fund. John Morse, church building and finance chairman, says confidently, “We’ll get by all right,” although even with this handsome loan fund, the UCC has had its “share of troubles.”
For one thing, a large number of projects are costing from 20 to 50 per cent more than architects’ estimates a year ago. And a number of banks are reneging on tentative commitments to back congregational plans.
The jitters in the U. S. economy do not affect just big denominations. Even the 48,000-member Wesleyan Methodist Church—which regularly is at the top of the NCC’s listing of per capita giving in U.S. denominations—is feeling the squeeze. Church extension executive C. Wesley Lovin says many churches are delaying building plans because of high costs or lack of available money. At the same time, requests to the national loan fund, which totals $1.1 million, rose one-fourth during 1966. But the fund is geared to handle only the usual flow of business—two or three loans a month—and overflow appeals had to be turned down. Lovin expects 1967 will be worse.
This week, the Wesleyans hiked their interest charge on loans to 6½ per cent, reflecting the higher rates the denomination must pay its own creditors—those who invest in the church fund. The Methodist Church’s rate of 6 per cent is also rather high, reflecting the 5½ per cent interest it must pay to attract investors in today’s market. The Methodists hope they won’t have to borrow from banks, Murphy said.
The Southern Baptist Convention, which has about $20 million on loan to 1,000 congregations, shows the problem of denominations that must depend on bank or insurance loans. The home mission board last month removed the 6 per cent ceiling on what it charges churches for loans, and interest rates may now go as high as 7 per cent.
There is a considerable range in interest charged by denominations, based on such factors as need, strategic location, size, length of loan repayments, and whether the money is for a new congregation or an addition to a building. The United Church charges 4 per cent, with three-fifths of its loans going to new churches. United Presbyterians charge between 2 and 5½ per cent. The Episcopal range is 4½ to 5¼ per cent.
Even the higher church charges, however, are appealing in the current money market. Kent says some Episcopal parishes recently have paid 7 per cent or more to banks. Murphy says that some Methodist churches have been asked as much as 10 per cent in the South and that 7 to 8 per cent is “pretty much of a going rate on the West Coast.” And Morse says a UCC congregation in California is seriously considering a loan at 10 per cent.
Expo 67: Dual Approach
Between April and October of next year, some 12 million people are expected to converge on Montreal for the 600-million-dollar Canadian world’s fair known as “Expo ’67.” The Expo is located on two islands (one man-made) in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Two pavilions have been built to give a Christian witness. Eight religious groups (Roman Catholic, United Church, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, and Ukrainian Orthodox) have cooperated in building the Christian Pavilion, and the project has been called Canada’s greatest ecumenical achievement. The Sermons from Science Pavilion (Moody), initiated by leading Canadian laymen, has been termed a display of “tragic disunity.” An editorial of the United Church Observer appealed to United Church congregations not to support this “rival pavilion.”
The Christian Pavilion will use photography, light, and sound to convey its message. A news release claims that “it is more likely that the visitor will have more questions upon leaving the Pavilion than when he entered”; “but hopefully,” the release adds, “he will also begin to realize that it is only ‘with Christ, and in Christ, and by Christ’ that life has any purpose.” Sermons from Science will confront visitors directly with the claims of Christ. Inquirers will hear evangelist Leighton Ford on a brief film prior to counseling.
J. BERKLEY REYNOLDS
