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Weighing whether to sell a church is more than a financial decision.

鈥淭hat’s part of the gut-level stuff,鈥� David Brauer-Rieke, bishop of the Oregon Synod, said of the process. 鈥淏ut that comes in conflict with our proclamation of death and resurrection 鈥� things die and they come back in a different form. So we fight those tensions in what we believe faith-wise and what we experience in our own guts. It’s hard.鈥�

Recently, the decided to gift its 84-year-old building on Northeast Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to the synod so it could sell it. Over a number of years, Bethlehem’s congregation decreased from several hundred to approximately 50; the church could no longer afford the $3,000 in monthly maintenance fees for the 15,000-square-foot facility.

Brauer-Rieke said congregations across the nation are facing the same problem.

The predicts that 40 percent of the mainline churches that were present in America in the mid-1990s will be forced to shut their doors by 2020 because of a lack of viability.

According to the Regional Multiple Listing Service, nine churches in the Portland-metro area are for sale. The trouble is that few options exist for the single-use buildings.

鈥淭hese buildings are really having a hard time finding a niche,鈥� said Steve Hagan, a senior adviser with . 鈥淏uyers don’t know what the heck to do with them. I mean you can tear them down, but you’re paying a premium for buying a building that you’re just going to blow up essentially.鈥�

Hagan added that parishioners often value their buildings for much more than what buyers are willing to pay. He said he has seen three deals fall through in the past 12 months because of that divide. The problem is zoning.

Mike Hayakawa, a supervising planner with Portland’s Bureau of Development Services, said churches are zoned for residential neighborhoods with a conditional-use permit. So, prospective church building buyers interested in a commercial, retail, office or institutional use would have to apply for a zoning change.

鈥淚t’s very expensive, it’s very time-consuming and the City Council has adopted criteria that really make you address all the impacts,鈥� Hayakawa said. 鈥淚t’s not easy and it’s not meant to be easy. Well-informed people do not take map amendments lightly. They understand they can roll the dice, go through the whole process and months later be back at square one.鈥�

Meanwhile, national studies reveal that church attendance is declining. According to a 2011 report by the Barna Group, a church-focused research organization, approximately 46 percent of people in western states are unchurched. That’s a 17 percent increase from 1991.

And according to RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosures filed on church properties in the U.S. increased from 12 in 2008 to 143 in the first half of 2012. Additionally, according to CoStar, while only three church foreclosure sales occurred in 2006, 117 took place in 2010, 105 in 2011 and 36 so far this year.

Brauer-Rieke said churches aren’t connecting well with younger generations.

鈥淧assions, particularly in the Northwest, revolve around Earth care and green issues and environmental (issues), which is not exactly Jesus language,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut they may be issues you’re concerned with 鈥� conversations revolving around work, jobs (and) how we use money 鈥� what it means to live with this unbelievable load of debt and be unemployed and that sort of stuff. And is that a spiritual question? Well, yeah.鈥�

Brauer-Rieke is hoping to engage in more of those conversations, but in the meantime churches are collecting less money from fewer attendees.

鈥淔rom a strictly real estate perspective, it means for many churches there are few people who are sitting in those pews every Sunday, and when they’re not sitting in the pews, the way they give tends to be different,鈥� said Jan Wierima, executive assistant for the Oregon Synod. 鈥淚t’s not your grandmother’s collection plate.鈥�

Sometimes, a creative property solution is required.

Courtney McHill is a United Methodist pastor for the , a co-op that combines Methodist and Lutheran congregations under one roof.

The arrangement started about six years ago as a way for one pastor to fill in for another when that person was on a mission. But it has since evolved into a kind of full-service community center. In addition to being used for three different mass schedules (one Methodist, one Lutheran and one mixed) the building accommodates 24 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and local Boy Scout troop gatherings. Free coffee is offered all day, and free breakfast is served on Saturdays.

McHill said it works great.

鈥淲hy would we funnel more funds into all these different buildings when that’s not our mission,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s to be out in the world with people.鈥�

Brauer-Rieke said the Bethlehem congregation ultimately arrived at the same conclusion. The group now travels and 鈥渘ests鈥� with other Portland-area churches; he said many are relieved that there are no more worries about paying monthly bills.

But concerns did arise. When the idea of selling the church was broached, one woman in her early 70s asked him, 鈥淲here will my funeral be?鈥�

A big turning point came about two weeks after the congregation left the building and a woman in her 90s 鈥� one of the group’s most long-standing parishioners 鈥� died. An intimate service was held at the Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes.

The congregation’s pastor, Solveig Nilsen-Goodin, said the experience helped people realize that it wasn’t the building that mattered most, but rather how the life was celebrated. Brauer-Rieke said selling a church building is still hard.

鈥淎ll of us want ties to the ancestors. We want our history … That’s part of why we’re so resistant to this stuff,鈥� Brauer-Rieke said. 鈥淏ecause people at some gut level know, boy, if we lose this, it’s gone forever.鈥�

That said, Brauer-Rieke said more Portland-area churches likely will go up for sale. Meanwhile, brokers will continue to seek buyers.

鈥淭heir building for them is an important part of their lives and to let it go for land value just sort of rubs against them the wrong way,鈥� Hagan said. 鈥淏ut unless you’re McMenamins and going to have the temple bar or something, I mean who’s going to use it with the stained glass? It’s not going to happen.鈥�