Post by 🦍MAXX＞ⓤ on Jan 17, 2022 7:33:26 GMT -5
Biltmore United Methodist Church of Asheville, North Carolina, is for sale.
Already financially strapped because of shrinking membership and a struggling preschool, the congregation was dealt a crushing blow by the coronavirus. Attendance plummeted, with many staying home or switching to other churches that stayed open the whole time. Gone, too, is the revenue the church formerly got from renting its space for events and meetings.
“Our maintenance costs are just exorbitant,” said the Rev. Lucy Robbins, senior pastor.“And we just don’t have the resources financially that we used to have to be able to do the kind of ministry work that we would like.”
Biltmore is just one of an untold number of congregations across the country that have struggled to stay afloat financially and minister to their flocks during the pandemic, though others have managed to weather the storm, often with help from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, and sustained levels of member donations.
apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-religion-north-carolina-4e4bfc4ff1092571524bc460f5ed3a16
Already financially strapped because of shrinking membership and a struggling preschool, the congregation was dealt a crushing blow by the coronavirus. Attendance plummeted, with many staying home or switching to other churches that stayed open the whole time. Gone, too, is the revenue the church formerly got from renting its space for events and meetings.
“Our maintenance costs are just exorbitant,” said the Rev. Lucy Robbins, senior pastor.“And we just don’t have the resources financially that we used to have to be able to do the kind of ministry work that we would like.”
Biltmore is just one of an untold number of congregations across the country that have struggled to stay afloat financially and minister to their flocks during the pandemic, though others have managed to weather the storm, often with help from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, and sustained levels of member donations.
apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-religion-north-carolina-4e4bfc4ff1092571524bc460f5ed3a16