CHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS) — Four years ago, the Rev. Matt Conner presented his congregation with a stark reality: Newell Presbyterian Church had about 18 months of financial solvency ahead. The time had come to seriously consider its future.
Chartered in 1890 in what was then a sleepy part of northeast Charlotte dotted with dairy farms and tobacco fields, the church grew, and then started a slow decline. These days about 50 people attend Sunday morning services and the church has an annual budget of $190,000.
But Newell Presbyterian has one asset increasingly in demand in the now bustling neighborhood of subdivisions and apartment complexes: land. The church sits on 9.5 acres, accumulated plot by plot by devoted church members who had long since passed on…