Pathways toward Acquiring Church Property for Ethnic Christian Congregations

With many churches predicted to close over the next 20 years and the increasing number of religious immigrants coming to the United States, this paper aims to illuminate pathways for ethnic Christian congregations to own church property. Using grounded theory methods, we illuminate case studies of five ethnic and one native congregation in Spokane, Washington State, USA. We find that congregations took multiple pathways to acquire property, typically following a five-phase church property acquisition process (CPAP). New congregations form (Phase I) and move into unstable spaces (Phase II). Eventually, congregations find stable space arrangements (Phase III) before entering the property acquisition process (Phase IV). If congregations purchase property, they learn to operate and maintain it (Phase V). These pathways repeat as new ethnic congregations plant or split from established churches. Although this process may be no different for native congregations, we highlight two theoretical implications that may be unique to ethnic congregations. First, with cultural repertoires operating in the background, congregations intertwine religious and secular logics throughout the CPAP to justify their decisions. Second, each of our cases required accommodations to make property acquisition equitable and accessible. Our findings provide avenues for future research, enrich the church redevelopment literature, and benefit ethnic religious leaders.