VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA will consider selling the facility jokingly known to some of the denomination's faithful as the “Holy Doughnut” — ABC's headquarters building near Philadelphia.
In its Nov. 14-15 meeting, the denomination's General Board will take up a recommendation from its own executive committee to begin offering the ABC-USA Mission Center in Valley Forge, Pa., for sale.
Last month the committee unanimously approved a recommendation from an ad hoc panel to sell the center — built in 1962 and known by its humorous nickname because of its circular, modernist design.
Cheryl Wade, the denomination's associate general secretary and treasurer, said the Mission Center is too large for the denomination's current needs. “This is a matter that was regularly reviewed by [ABC officials], so this is not the first time that that subject has come up,” she said. “It was just right in 1962 when we moved in here, but this is 2006 and we have different needs.”
For instance, Ward noted, the denomination's publishing house, Judson Press, used to have its own printing facility in the building. But Judson now outsources that job to firms that can print more efficiently.
Similar changes in ABC administrative life mean American Baptists “need less space than we have, and as a result, ABC-USA has been in the property-management business,” Wade said. Since 1996, the denomination has rented Mission Center office space to outside organizations, and thus must devote time and personnel to property-management functions instead of other kinds of ministry.
The building currently houses the General Board staff, as well as the central staffs for the denomination's Board of International Ministries and Board of National Ministries. It also houses a satellite office for the denomination's Missionaries and Ministers Benefit Board and offices for several organizations — such as the American Baptist Historical Society — that are referred to as “affiliated ministry organizations” in ABC parlance.
All told, Wade said, there are about 200 American Baptist-related ministry personnel housed in the center.
Wade also said she did not anticipate any controversy among the General Board or American Baptists as a whole over the proposal to move.
An American Baptist pastor from Iowa said the decision sounded like good stewardship to him. “My own personal reaction is, really, it's something that I think it's good for them to look at the possibility, because the building has become really kind of a financial drain,” said Timothy Bonney, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Des Moines.
Bonney, a former ABC General Board member, noted the building used to house a third major denominational board — the ABC Board of Educational Ministries which is now defunct, its responsibilities passing on to other ABC-related agencies.
“Instead of three program boards paying rent to the General Secretary's office, [now] you have two,” Bonney said.
He said some people in American Baptist life may be dismayed at the symbolic prospect of giving up such an iconic building. But Bonney pointed to his own congregation's recent experience of moving out of an outdated downtown building to a new facility in a fast-growing part of Des Moines.
“We were in a downtown, older church building that wasn't serving our needs any more and decided that it was time to do something different, he said. “So really, I think it's kind of forward-thinking for them to not let history of the building hold them back.”
According to Ward, the ABC official, any agreement for selling the building would have to include a provision for “a period of 3-5 years for ABC tenants to remain in the building” while officials arrange for a more permanent new home.
She also said she didn't envision any new arrangement moving the denomination out of the Philadelphia area.
Ward admitted some ABC staffers may hold emotional ties to the “Holy Doughnut,” but they understand the building has served its purpose. “I think, while we have very much appreciated being at Valley Forge and certainly value the gift of the people who gave it in 1962, we realize that we're doing ministry in the 21st century,” she said.
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