"More and more churches are facing this problem," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition civil rights advocacy group. Its 1,000 Churches Connected Project acts as a mediator between struggling churches and their lenders. Program Director Axel Adams said he's talked to about 40 churches in California and many more nationwide that are straining to make property payments.
"Churches are full of members who lost jobs, who face home foreclosures themselves," Jackson said. "Church is their place of refuge. If the refuge closes, they have no place to go."
Financial issues span denominations but often are most acute for small to mid-size evangelical churches that are relatively new and are located in areas hard hit by the economic downturn.
They are not unlike struggling homeowners: When the economy was booming, some churches took on extra debt to expand, rehabilitate or move to larger spaces. Risky lending fueled the situation.
Read the rest of the article at The San Francisco Chronicle
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