Looks like we'll be getting a shiny new CVS pharmacy in Midtown...after a grand old church is bulldozed. This is sad on many levels -- watching an older church wither, watching Union turn into a mini-Germantown Parkway, loosing yet another beautiful building to a crappy new structure, watching politics simmer & stew, etc.
The saddest thing is the lost potential. Churches in Midtown and downtown are not just places of worship (though that is a noble purpose in itself), but rather true resources. Within a mile of Union Avenue Methodist Church you can see Union Ave Baptist hosting the new Memphis Teacher Residency Program, Idlewild Presbyterian hosting More Than A Meal, Union Ave Church of Christ hoping HopeWorks, and First Congregational home to a handful of non-profits. An adaptive re-use of Union Ave Methodist could have had incredible synergy and amazing potential for being a resource.
While I lament this loss of opportunity, I do understand the decision of the City Council to some extent: namely, that killing the sale would put an enormous burden on the congregation of Union Ave Methodist. The last 40 members have long since vacated the property which admittedly has significant problems and merged with St Luke's. In America it is hard to swallow government telling you who you can and cannot sell your own property to, and this congregation has a right to make this choice.
I do wish that there had been an open and transparent opportunity for negotiation for sale to parties other than CVS. But this is over and done with.
Meanwhile, we need to realize that are other churches in similar situations. Sadly, you can walk into scores of sanctuaries with a capacity for 200-500 and find 40 people in the pews any given Sunday morning. Union Ave Methodist said they received no support from the community for the several years they spent trying to find solutions. Probably so. How often do churches look at other churches as competitors rather than partners?
All churches and organizations, like people, have lifecycles. As megachurches sprout and grow in the suburbs and church plants pop up in the inner city, what is our duty to fellow members of the church invisible who are struggling? Where are there opportunities for support and cooperation? Perhaps in addition to foreign missions and home missions, we may also be called to support intra-church missions. What does that look like? Who knows, but it is worth thinking about.
As you pointed out, the congregation spent YEARS seekng help from the community, to no avail. So, when we give them no alternative but to find help from the only place they can - the sale of the building - we all jump up and cry "Fowl". I admire the thought, but not the effort. Too little too late to make any difference. Same thing with Overton Square. Now it'll probably sit for another 10-15 years and continue to decay. I don't necessarily agree with what is and would have gone in either place, but the process of "saving" landmarks must improve. I just don't understand what the success was with Overton Square that everyone wanted to celebrate.
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