Cerulean Sanctum: Dude, where's my church

Dan Edelen is up in arms about the Supreme Court's granting of power to my town to seize an entire blighted neighborhood by eminent domain. He writes

It troubles me that we Christians are failing to consider how easy it is for our church buildings to be seized by local, state, and federal governments for any and all purposes.

There's a difference between conspiracy theories and preparedness. Land grabs against churches are increasing yearly (see this post for a few instances). To ensure the maximum possible tax revenue, towns are also blocking the building of new churches in areas of prime development. A quick Google search will turn up plenty of instances for these kinds of strong-arm tactics.

So why aren't we Christians as a whole doing anything about it? Are our church leaders making plans in case we have to go underground? It hasn't come to that yet, but it's better for us to be thinking now about how we do church in a hostile social environment rather than later.

Rome is burning, folks. So why do our church leaders keep on fiddling?

So i've been writing alot in his comment section and thought i'd put those thoughts here too.

something about where our treasure shouldn't be...

alot of those big beautiful buildings are just that and not where God is in the midst. a most extreme example is the Hagia Sophia in Turkey which went from a beautiful basilica to the glory or God to a beautiful mosque to the glory of allah.
on a small scale a pretty white church with a tall steeple in my home town is now a mosque also.
church is people not buildings.

something about God's provision for his people

i’ve lived in New London for 12 years, where Kelo also resides. btw, she finally settled with the city. part of the area the city took included an hispanic church, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana. they don’t have a website…but they took the city’s offer for their property and found a new site in our tiny city and have a beautiful new church building. it wasn’t hostile for them. the congregation would have never had a buyer if the city hadn’t wanted it. this church actually was blessed by the eminent domain proceedings. but if you are at the bottom, and this city is and this part of the city is next to the smelly sewage treatment plant, the only direction you can go is up. God elevated them from their humble estate, which i think is the real lesson. like Jesus, they made themselves of no reputation. so bring it on. the latest bumper stickers around town say, “welcome to New London, your home is ours.”

something about being good citizens

i’m not sure this is a kingdom of God issue. if a church can’t grow into a commercially zoned area, why can’t it be a good citizen and birth a daughter church somewhere and give up aspirations of “mega?” here’s a novel idea, how about churches make payments in lieu of taxes, it’s called PILOT here in New London. we are very tiny, about 12 square miles, and we have 3 colleges, 1 hospital, plenty of state properties and very little industry. so some of these non-taxable non-profits make PILOTs. because no matter how much they help with volunteers, money is still needed for maintenance of the city and provisions for the needy who are attracted to our city. things in connecticut are very territorial, we don’t have county taxes or county governance. each city is on its own and if your a poor city you hit the capitol up for as many bucks as you can. we are surrounded by wealthier cities that are not interested in helping out with low-income housing or social services, so we are a life preserver of services for this community. anyway, maybe churches over a certain size could become taxpayers and help out the community at large. my panentheist neighbor likes that idea. housechurches already do this…

and something about God's sovereignty...

i think a church with a commitment to small groups is prepared to care for itself if the central meeting place was closed. but, if one church closed and all the others stayed open, i’m sure the people would gladly receive the opportunity to church shop and see the other ways God’s people fellowship together.
home groups prepare people for “one another” ministry. if God allowed the state to close all the churches, it wouldn’t be the first time. it worked pretty good when the heat turned up in Jerusalem in Acts. it has worked very well in China. God is still on his throne and takes care of his bride.