Building Financial Resilience
An innovative Trinity program helps churches around the world use their real estate to serve their communities.
The problem: In pursuit of the Gospel imperative to take care of their neighbors, churches often don’t have enough money to fund basic services, much less the work that will make a difference in their communities.
The solution: Trinity’s Mission Real Estate Development (MRED) strategic initiative, which helps churches make the most of what they’ve got — building sustainable financial capacity and enhancing their community impact through the creative development of church property.
Launched in 2010 as a series of initiatives with churches in Africa, the program today provides grants, education, and advisory support to interested churches around the world. Trinity works closely with parishes and dioceses to develop projects that support underserved neighborhoods, empower women and children, build affordable housing, and provide education and social services. MRED also hosts an annual conference, The Gift of Place, offering workshops that deepen knowledge of sustainable real estate practices, as well as a digital education platform, the Faith Leadership Campus, where faith leaders can take any course free of charge. The Rev. James Clark III, managing director of MRED, and his team provide ongoing support for grantees, ensuring the success of their projects.
Case in point: In 2010, the Anglican Diocese of Rumonge in Burundi opened a 16-bed medical clinic to offer basic care and relieve pressure on the province’s lone hospital, which served 417 square miles and more than 350,000 people — and had no maternity ward. Eight years later, with the help of Trinity’s MRED initiative, clinic facilities were expanded to become the Birimba Amahoro Hospital. Since 2018, the hospital has served 13,000 patients (focusing on maternity and pediatrics), created 43 jobs, and generated revenue to support ongoing ministry.
Trinity provided 76 percent of the total budget and the Rumonge diocese contributed the remaining 24 percent in land value, in-kind donations, and financial contributions. Trinity continues to support the hospital in an advisory capacity. “That project built the community, and built the church,” said Clark, a third-generation preacher’s kid who is himself an ordained minister. “In proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, this place is living its values and providing for the people.”
In 2021, shortly after Clark joined Trinity following a long career in capital markets, commercial real estate development, and finance, MRED was expanded beyond its original work in Africa and the Caribbean to take on projects in the United States. “We saw this confluence of challenges for U.S. churches — declining congregations, aging facilities suffering from deferred maintenance because there was no money for repairs, and opportunistic developers knocking on their doors,” said Clark.
As Clark and his team began studying the problem, it became clear that churches — often geographically well-situated to meet local needs for health care or affordable housing — were under financial pressure that was leading them to make bad short-term decisions with their long-term assets. “We advise churches not to sell their land unless they can fulfill their mission on property elsewhere,” said Clark. “I tell people the story of when Peter went fishing and caught nothing, but then Jesus went out in the boat and used it as a pulpit instead. It was still a boat, and it was still for fishing. We recognize the value of sacred space, but developing church property doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
Today, Trinity works with more than 60 churches across denominations and across the country. A parish outside Seattle is tearing down its whole block to build two affordable housing projects, with its church on the ground floor in one. A small Episcopal parish in Brooklyn, home to two congregations, one Spanish-speaking, the other English-speaking, is working with Trinity to use its buildings to better serve the neighborhood.
“Trinity has had 327 years to learn the lessons of managing its real estate to support the community,” said Clark. “It’s about putting your mission first, and then looking at how God has equipped you to carry out that mission. We’re grateful to be in a position to help.”