Sacred Places Autumn/Winter 2018-2019 | Page 6

HELPING CONGREGATIONS RETHINK REAL ESTATE: The Groundbreaking Work of Wesley Community Development By Rachel Hildebrandt P artners’ Senior Program Manager Rachel Hildebrandt re- cently spoke with Joel Gilland, President of Wesley Com- munity Development. Based in Huntersville, North Caro- lina, Wesley Community Development is a nonprofit that works with United Methodist churches throughout North Carolina to thoughtfully develop and repurpose real estate. Rachel Hildebrandt (RH): Please tell me more about what Wesley CDC does. Joel Gilland (JG): Wesley CDC is a ministry grounded in the use of buildings and land. We believe that our churches are called to use their physical assets to serve and connect community—and that may include strategic renovation to address functionality, leasing buildings and grounds, devel- oping unused property for income or community en- gagement, or complete reloca- tion. Joel Gilland, President of Wesley Community Development RH: What does real estate have to do with faith? JG: If a church campus is used only two or three times a week, we are not being good stewards of the sacrificial investment made by those before us. Real estate, if used with vision and purpose, is a tool that can advance the mission of the church. Unused, it is a drain on resources… RH: What areas of real estate is Wesley CDC most focused on? JG: The first is usage—understanding usage. The average usage of our campuses (based on the churches we’ve worked with) is 14%. Most laity don’t realize that it’s that low because they’re there on Sunday and Wednesday nights… We help congregations to under- stand usage and availability more comprehensively and where new opportunities exist. 6 SACRED PLACES • AUTUMN/WINTER 2018-19 The second is real estate itself. If you want to build a building and you do so every twenty years, you aren’t going to be in touch with the market place… Because we are a church-affiliated nonprofit, we can assist congregations as they evalu- ate development options in a way that places the needs of the church at the forefront. “ Preserving Lastly, we are working on affect- ing the trajectory of church campuses. Real estate, by its nature, comes with costs and churches in this changing environment are seeing declining levels of giving. How do these two pathways align? The best time to have that discussion is when there is still time to adapt… RH: So of all the projects you’ve seen Wesley CDC do in the time you’ve been there, do you have a favorite? JG: That’s difficult, if not impossible, to answer. We built a fantastic facility that includes a multi-use sanctuary, classrooms, and youth space that is highly flexible; we reconfigured an existing building that allowed for the birth of a multicultural preschool; and we developed a conference center that’s LEED certified… My favorites are whatever I’m working on now and the one that is coming tomorrow. The greatest joy in this is both to see change from our real estate perspective but more impor- tantly to navigate the work with truly amazing people. RH: Do you ever work with congrega- tions that own historic properties? the history of our church homes...is a way of honoring our faith. ” —Joel Gilland