Across South Florida, congregations are confronting a hard numbers problem: rising costs, shifting demographics, aging facilities, and, in some cases, fewer people in the pews. A wave of foreclosures, property sales and mergers has put the issue in sharp relief. At the same time, pastors and church leaders say new tactics — from housing development and nonprofit partnerships to online giving — are helping churches remain anchors of community life.
Trends
Local pastors say South Florida’s affordability crisis, demographic shifts and gentrification are reshaping who can attend and give.
“I don't think it's a church problem, per se. I would say it's a South Florida problem. Context always influences culture,” said the Rev. Nathaniel Robinson III, senior pastor at Mount Hermon AMEC in Miami Gardens. He explained that as residents are priced out, congregations lose their financial base.
“If people are struggling, then the primary resource of contributions for a congregation, being the people, will most likely not sustain the ministry,” Robinson said.
Bernard Phanord, president and CEO of the Collective Empowerment Group (CEG), said the pandemic deepened financial instability.
“Since COVID, there’s been a great impact on membership,” he said. “Most ministries are very much dependent upon tithes and offerings. Once you have the reduction of membership, that’s a reduction of love, contributions and tithes that helps sustain those ministries.”
Gentrification and inflation, he added, push congregants farther away.
“You will see or have seen the impact of people simply not going to church as much… because they have to put food on the table. The cost of maintaining housing and stability sometimes causes them to not go to church.”
The Rev. Dr. R. Joaquin Willis, CEG founder and president emeritus, said survival depends on how churches respond to these challenges.
“The traditional Black church that had been very engaged in community service is doing very well,” he said. “The ones that are just internally focused in doing church and Bible study once a week, I find them hard to survive because they’re not showing the value to the community.”
Phanord also underscored succession.
“That's another reason why houses of worship may close,” he said. “What are we doing to attract the next generation? Are we going to the next generation as it pertains to ministry leadership and being okay with the fact that ministry leadership from the next generation may not look the same as the previous generation?”
According to a recent Barna Group report, Millennials and Gen Z Christians are attending church more frequently than before. The typical Gen Z churchgoer now attends 1.9 weekends per month, while Millennial churchgoers average 1.8 times — a steady upward shift since the pandemic.
For community advocate Lionel LightBourne, a member of New Birth Baptist Church, the fight is about equity and accountability.
“The Black church gave birth to financial management; every Black institution in America came out of the Black church,” he said. He worries that when assets are sold, “the membership doesn’t have any power, the power stays between the pastors and the board.”
His solutions include public and community land trusts.
“Secure the land that you stand on,” he said. “Everybody that gives to it will benefit from it.”
LightBourne urges churches to plan for the long term. “We built the house based on where the congregation is at the moment, as opposed to where they’re going to be in the future.”
Sales and foreclosures
Some congregations facing these pressures belong to The House of God Keith Dominion network, which has become a focal point after a sweeping reorganization merged four sites in Liberty City, Miami Gardens and Pompano, while properties in West Park and Dania Beach are being appraised for sale, as reported by Local 10.
Headquarters in Nashville cited “financial solvency, infrastructure needs, leadership capacity, and membership trends” as the driving factors.
Some congregations couldn’t operate independently and relied on state and national assistance, while several buildings were deemed unsafe or unfit for worship. Leadership gaps, aging pastors and dwindling attendance — sometimes fewer than 20 members — deepened the strain. Since August 2025, services have been centralized in Pompano Beach. But the move has angered members who say the process lacks transparency and displaces long-time congregants. Lawsuits have been filed seeking financial records and appraisals.
The network responded:
“These measures were not taken lightly but only after thoughtful prayer and consideration. Our entire goal is to create a united and stronger church body. We will continue to pursue a strategy of growth and renewal and resolve any outstanding legal issues as quickly and expeditiously as possible.”
Other churches have been hit by foreclosures, including New Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Liberty City and Mount Hermon AMEC in Miami Gardens, which filed for bankruptcy in early 2024 and was bought by Unity on the Bay in March 2025.
Pastor Robinson, who previously stabilized Greater St. Paul AME, said the issue wasn’t mismanagement but an internal split dating back to 2012 that cost the church 60% of its members.
“Here you’d have a church that had over 2,000 members who were more than capable of taking care of the financial obligation,” he said. “The story is that for 12 years, 40% of that group was able to sustain those mortgage payments and to take care of that business, even after losing well over half of its membership.”
Mount Hermon now worships at Mount Zion AME Church while leaders search for a new location. Despite losing its building, the congregation continues its outreach, providing more than $50,000 in scholarships, supplies, and meals last year.
Using church assets
Many churches are shifting from single-income models toward mission-aligned enterprises such as housing. Willis said staying relevant requires assessing community needs.
“Use your land to monetize your ministry,” he said, recalling that during his time at the Church of the Open Door, leaders built a garden across the street to address food insecurity.
Robinson used a similar approach at Greater St. Paul AME in Coconut Grove, which eliminated all debt in three years by rehabilitating housing units the church owned.
“They had about 40 units of housing that it provided for extremely low-income families,” he explained. “It was able to gain access to resources through a nonprofit entity, rent those units out and provide a service for the community.”
CEG is pursuing similar strategies, including Grand Bahamas Place in West Grove, where parcels owned by Believers of Authority will be developed to build generational wealth and possibly benefit the church's finances.
“Don't just put housing. If possible, put for-sale housing on your site, so that people can buy the property and own it and build a legacy and the church benefits too,” Willis said. “In addition to the land sale, then, in many ways, you’re putting people adjacent to their churches who might want to join so they could be billing their membership.”
Phanord pointed to projects like childcare centers, banquet halls, after-school programs and food access initiatives as examples of “low-hanging fruit” that meet community needs and create sustainable revenue.
The CEG helps churches strengthen financial models, diversify funding and prepare projects that are attractive to developers and funders.
“You have to have a diversified portfolio,” Phanord said. “Maybe they need to reach out to their local commissioners. Commissioners typically have some level of discretionary funding that can maybe be a stopgap funding as they get ready to do other things.”
At Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, the Rev. Lance Bailey is preparing to leverage its campus as a community hub — complete with classrooms, meeting space, and multipurpose rooms that can host fee-generating activities and youth programming.
Technology
“If you’re not using technology now, you’re heading in the wrong direction as a ministry,” Bailey said. “You can pay online. You can support a ministry online. And that is what sustains ministry now.”
According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 75 percent of congregations now offer online worship — up from 45% pre-pandemic — and nearly half use digital donation platforms.
“Technology allows us to reach more people,” Robinson said. “You can make contributions from wherever you might be in the world. We’re able to be more accessible.”
Final tips
For many pastors and church leaders, the path forward begins with clarity of mission and courage to act. Willis emphasized that relevance is key to resilience.
“Every church should assess itself and assess its community. Figure out what’s needed and what you can realistically provide,” he said. “Even a small church can be an oasis of resources in a desert of need.”
Phanord added, “There has to be a level of interdisciplinary education and information as it pertains to being a house of worship leader because you’re not just forming people spiritually. You’re having to deal with community development, finance, business models, government.”
This story was produced by The Miami Times, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the country, as part of a content sharing partnership with the WLRN newsroom. Read more at miamitimesonline.com.
