06 — About
A trust for churches that still preach.
American Church Conservancy keeps America's historic city-center churches open for worship by acquiring and restoring them and leasing them at affordable rents to theologically conservative, Bible-believing congregations.
Christ Church, Philadelphia, on Second Street. An eighteenth-century church still sitting in the plan of the city.
Photograph by Al R. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source. Shown as an example. Not a property of American Church Conservancy.
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Just launching
American Church Conservancy is a new United States nonprofit. It is being formed to buy historic, beautiful churches in the centers of cities, restore them, hold them permanently, and lease them at below-market rent.
The money comes from major donors. The tenants are theologically conservative, Bible-believing congregations: confessional Presbyterian churches that subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Baptist churches that subscribe to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
There is no portfolio. Our first building is planned for 2027. The board has not been announced. Federal tax exemption is pending and has not been granted. This page will be updated when those facts change, and not before.
Statement of faith
A summary, not a substitute for the confessions themselves. The lease will name the confession. This page only says what that commitment is.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The seventeenth-century Reformed confession held by confessional Presbyterian churches. It teaches that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only infallible rule of faith and life; that there is one God, eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that human beings are fallen, and that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ alone; that Christ is head of the church, and that the sacraments are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and that the Christian life is lived under the moral law of God, in hope of the resurrection.
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000
The confession adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000, and subscribed by many theologically conservative Baptist churches. It teaches that the Bible is wholly true; that God is triune; that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ; that baptism is the immersion of a believer and that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the church; that a New Testament church is a local, self-governing body of baptized believers; and that God alone is Lord of the conscience.
The Conservancy does not ask a Presbyterian church to abandon presbyterian order, or a Baptist church to abandon congregational order. The shared ground is the confession, and a theologically conservative, Bible-believing ministry in the building. The word we use for that commitment is “theologically conservative.” We do not use “orthodox” for it.
Board
To be announced. No names are listed because none have been appointed in public.
Exemption
501(c)(3) status pending. Gifts are not described as tax-deductible.
Office
No public street address yet. Write to the email on the contact page.
What this is not
- Not a denomination, and not a church.
- Not a claim to be the only people keeping old churches.
- Not a landlord seeking a market return.
- Not a portfolio. Our first building: coming 2027.