Imagining Good Futures on Church Property

Leader – Mark Elsdon 

The closure and repurposing of 100,000 church properties this decade presents both a crisis and an opportunity. What happens next is up to us. Churches often wonder how to better serve their neighbors and use buildings and land that is empty much of the week. Drawing upon stories from around the country and insights from his two books, Rev. Mark Elsdon, will help expand our imagination for what is possible using church buildings, land, and investment assets for housing and social enterprise projects that transform neighborhoods. 

Rev. Mark Elsdon lives and works at the intersection of money and meaning as a serial social entrepreneur, strategic executive, and author. He is a national thought leader and speaker on subjects of faith-based impact investing, social enterprise, and property development. Mark is the author of We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry. and editor of the book, Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition. Mark holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton Theological Seminary; and the University of Wisconsin School of Business. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA and serves as co-founder of RootedGood and principal at Threshold Sacred Development. Mark lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his family.