Churches are finding new ways to live into historic callings through innovative facilities projects they hope will sustain their ministries and congregations into the future.
Second Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., recently celebrated the opening of a 7,777-square-foot hospitality center on its campus that includes a café and gathering, event and office spaces.
Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, sold about half its 5-acre parcel to a developer for construction of a 265-unit housing complex for Baylor University students, and will use the earnings to build a new sanctuary and welcome center on the remainder of its property.
National Baptist Memorial Church in Washington, D.C., is leveraging a partnership with a neighboring congregation to help with the $30-million renovation of its 50,000-square-foot facility to offer worship, help feed the hungry and house the homeless.
Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock formed a nonprofit corporation called Hillcrest Commons that now owns the church’s property and seeks to “enrich the community by providing a welcoming space for programs and partnerships that cultivate connection, creativity and civic engagement, including providing inclusive space that welcomes worship, reflection and spiritual growth across all traditions and affirms a non-denominational, pluralistic approach to community.”
These projects exemplify some of the creative solutions houses of worship are finding to address challenges of congregational decline, facilities maintenance and community needs.
Second Baptist Memphis
The Front Porch was launched as a collaboration with Second Baptist in Memphis to provide a haven of rest, renewal and restoration for the entire community, said Stephen Cook, senior pastor of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation.
The nonprofit ministry raised most of the $5 million to construct the facility that opened in November and already is home to two counseling centers, an after-school tutoring program, the office of the minister from a neighboring church and the American Cancer Society. Another tenant is Second Helpings Café, which is part catering business, coffee shop and restaurant serving breakfast and lunch.
“It does not look like a church, and it was designed to be almost all glass in order to create a sense of openness and to help convey to people that you can see what’s happening here,” Cook said. “It tells you that you are welcome here which feels very much to be at the heart of how Jesus went about his ministry.”
While the operation is owned and operated by The Front Porch, its board is made up of a majority of Second Baptist members and boosts the congregation’s effectiveness in serving the neighborhood and city.
The venture was not undertaken to address declining church membership or to underwrite the congregation’s budget, but to ensure Second Baptist continues to live into its DNA as a provider of spiritual, emotional, social and physical nourishment of its neighbors, Cook added. “The Front Porch was born out of this idea that porches are gathering places where people come together. Porches are entryways into homes and relationships and connections with people, and this is important in a time when there seems to be an absence of connectivity in our world.”
Seventh and James Waco
But even the prospect of enhancing a church’s future and effectiveness can come with sadness, said Erin Conaway, pastor of Seventh and James Baptist Church.
“We’ve been intentional about naming our grief at losing this sacred space in our lives and we’re learning to hold it alongside our excitement for the new space,” he said. “I think this is adding to our depth as people of faith who also have to hold together our own light and darkness.”
Architect’s rendering of new building on site of Seventh and James Baptist Church
The CBF partner congregation expects to close on the deal in April. The Parallel Collective, an architecture firm based in Austin, said the “602 James Avenue” project will include a parking garage and 630 beds in studio and one- to five-bedroom apartments to be completed by August 2028.
The process will include the demolition of Seventh and James’ 550-seat sanctuary and two other buildings on campus by June, with construction of a new welcome center and 300-seat sanctuary expected to commence by September. The final worship service in the 1950s structure is tentatively planned for Easter Sunday, and the congregation will gather for worship in the remaining fellowship hall during construction, Conaway said.
Conversations about the future of the campus began several years ago due to concerns about an ailing HVAC system that required $1 million to replace. The church organ also was due for major maintenance and repairs.
“We were feeling convicted that we might reach a point where we could no longer be good stewards of all this property and we needed to consider reducing our footprint. At the same time, we asked the question of ourselves about selling it all and moving to a new location but felt once again called to continue to be where we are,” he said.
The church property sits adjacent to and is almost engulfed by the Baylor campus.
The discernment process revealed once again that Seventh and James must maintain its historic commitment to serving the university community, the pastor said. “Several times over the last 30 to 40 years this issue has come before the church and each time we feel a renewed calling to this neighborhood and our proximity to Baylor.”
The plan also is to continue the music program the church is known for, including by moving parts of its 1930s-era pipe organ into the new facility.
“We love the excellence of our music ministry and know it is essential to our worship identity,” he said. “The acoustics in our current sanctuary are outstanding and we are making sure our new sanctuary will be as acoustically glorious as our current sanctuary if not even better.”
The newer and smaller facilities also will strengthen the congregation’s commitments to mission partnerships and being church outside its four walls, Conaway said. “This began with a conversation about stewardship and has blossomed into our dreams for the future of Seventh that will outlive all of us.”
In the meantime, the congregation has been documenting final milestones along the way, including by taking a photo of all members gathered in the sanctuary on Christmas Eve.
“I’ve been amazed at the astounding church unity throughout this process. Selling half the campus, which includes the sanctuary we all love, sounds impossible to pull off in a Baptist church, but we’ve been together in this all along the way, which we feel is the guidance of the Holy Spirit and such a gift to us.”
Christmas Eve group photo at Seventh and James Church
National Baptist Memorial D.C.
The renovation of National Baptist Memorial Church was sparked by a new collaboration with The District Church, a growing congregation a half block away on 16th Street N.W. in Washington, according to a report by WTOP News.
“This is a God-sized project,” National Baptist Pastor Lisa Banks-Williams said. “I’m amazed at the building and at the possibilities and the potential of what we could do.”
Steeple at National Memorial Baptist Church
The church building is a historic landmark located at the intersection of three D.C. neighborhood. But its sanctuary fell into disrepair over the past decade, requiring the congregation to find alternative worship space.
“When National was in need of a partner to help restore the building, us being half a block down the road with a growing congregation, and then pastor Lisa coming in, it was just divine providence that led us to come together,” said Aaron Graham, lead pastor at The District Church.
The renovation beginning in 2027 will provide space for immigration, food, clothing and housing ministries at National Baptist, which is an aging congregation.
“We come from different backgrounds. We’re different generations, but that’s actually what makes us better together,” Graham explained. “We have a very young church that needs to be mothered and fathered from the generation before.”
“My church, (the) average age is 68, whereas with The District Church, they are much younger,” Banks-Williams said. “And I recognize that the older folks have wisdom and experience, but our younger folks have creativity and energy, and we need to bring that together.”
Boarded up entrance to National Memorial Baptist Church
According to a website launched to help raise funds for the project, National Baptist was founded in 1907 and its facilities were constructed in three phases beginning in 1910 and concluding with the 1,000-seat sanctuary in 1926.
“Its historic 16th Street building has hosted generations of worship, service and community impact. Today, the church remains active in weekly worship, Bible study, and neighborhood outreach.”
Proposed renovation of National Memorial Baptist Church
The District Church was founded in 2010 as a multinational congregation that has since launched city-wide ministries and a Christian counseling center. The church already has raised $5 million toward the renovation of its sister congregation. Altogether, more than $100 million has been pledged for the project.
“What we’re intending to do is to be able to keep the majesty and the glory of this part of the sanctuary, but also making it warm and inviting for the folks that are coming,” Banks-Williams said.
Pulaski Heights Little Rock
At Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, about two dozen people were on hand for a Sunday morning service that celebrated deeding church property to Hillcrest Commons, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The congregation will continue meeting in a small part of the 60,000-square-foot building and will retain full-time use of some spaces. Most of the building was not being used.
The church was founded in 1913 and once was a bustling hub of activity. But by the centennial celebration in 2013, then-Pastor Randy Hyde wrote a paper warning change was needed.
Archival photo of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church
“We are low in numbers, sustaining facilities designed for a much larger congregation, and we find ourselves spread too thin in terms of financial support and those available who are engaged actively in ministry pursuits,” he wrote.
The local newspaper reported the congregation wasn’t able to stem the tide.
“We had to do something because we were an aging facility, an aging congregation as well as a dwindling congregation,” said Marilou Brodie, who has attended the church since her childhood.
Pete DeBuys, an Episcopalian who moved to Little Rock in 2024, is the leader of Hillcrest Commons. He told the newspaper one positive to the property transfer is the congregation can focus on ministry and not the building.
“I think every church ever built has a leaky roof somewhere, so they don’t have to worry about that (anymore),” he said. “That will all be handled by Hillcrest Commons.”
Hyde, who was pastor from 1996 to 2017, told the Democrat-Gazette he is rooting for success.
“There are a lot of churches that are facing this. A lot of churches are closing,” he said. “I applaud their efforts to keep the ministry alive. … If they do this well, I think it might be a springboard.”