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“Churches Are Putting Texas Town Out of Business”
Orginally published on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 8:38 AM
by Todd Rhoades
They are not the words one expects to hear from a politician or a Southerner, and Leonard Scarcella is both: "Our city has an excessive number of churches." Scarcella, TX is mayor of this Houston-area community, which has 51 churches and other religious institutions packed into its 7 square miles. With some 300 undeveloped, potentially revenue-producing acres left in Stafford, officials are scrambling to find a legal way to keep more tax-exempt churches from building here.
“With federal laws, you can’t just say, ‘We’re not going to have any more churches,’ “ Scarcella said. “We respect the Constitution, but 51 of anything is too much.”
Stafford, population 19,227, is the largest city in Texas without a property tax, and it depends on sales taxes and business fees for revenue. Nonprofits have been attracted by its rapid growth and minimal deed restrictions. “It’s thrown everything out of balance, plus providing zero revenue. Somebody’s got to pay for police, fire and schools,” City Councilman Cecil Willis said.
In 2003, around the time the 45th church settled in, city leaders began looking for a way to slow the pace of construction. Public meetings were held; “we had people of different religions attending, people in their religious garb, Buddhists in their orange gowns and whatever else, talking about this very openly,” Scarcella said.
An ordinance eventually passed that required those who wanted to build a church — and other public gathering places, such as bowling alleys and community halls — to undergo a rigorous review process and obtain City Council approval.
Before the ordinance, “you could pretty much come in here and say, ‘I want to open up a church,’ and I’d say, ‘OK,’ “ said Gene Bane, the city’s director of building permits.
In his office is a large map of Stafford that is dotted with round yellow stickers, each dot denoting a church or religious facility. In some parts of town, the dots are so close together they nearly meld into a big yellow glob.
In one quarter-mile section near the city center, parishioners can choose among 17 churches. There are three small churches in the Quail Ridge Plaza shopping center, and three large brick churches on the street behind it. Down the road, the Evangelical Formosan Church is tucked behind a muffler shop.
“If you can’t find religion in Stafford, Texas, you ain’t looking hard enough,” Bane said.
There are no synagogues in Stafford, but there are religious facilities for Buddhists, Muslims, Chinese Baptists, Filipino Baptists, Spanish-speaking Baptists, and “every other variety of Christian you can imagine,” Scarcella said.
“As best as we’ve been able to determine, the overwhelming majority of people who attend here don’t even live in Stafford; they’re coming from everywhere else,” Willis said. Elsewhere includes Houston, about 15 miles northeast, and nearby Sugar Land.
“I don’t hate God. I’m not against America and apple pie,” Willis said. “We just have to protect what’s left for commercial development.”
Lawyers researching ways to stop church growth here will report back to city leaders in about six weeks, Scarcella said.
Lola Onita, assistant pastor at Jesus House Texas, said churches should be allowed to spread unfettered in a country that respects religious freedom. “People need a place to worship and hear the word of God,” she said.
But Nilda Martinez, who owns a flower shop between two churches, has had enough. “The churches, they’re everywhere here,” she said. “There are too many; the city should control it. It hurts the city when you don’t have enough businesses paying taxes.”
Willis said he asked the last six applicants why they wanted to build a church in Stafford. “Every one of them said they prayed about it, and God said to come here,” he said. “I can’t compete with that, so here we are.”
Any thoughts?
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 8:57 AM
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 9:06 AM
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 9:20 AM
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 10:23 AM
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006 at 3:31 AM
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Monday, August 07, 2006 at 11:28 AM
Post Your Comments:Town of 20,000… 51 churches… And every time that someone wants to build a church they say God “told them"… (I seem to remember another recent post on this issue...)
How come God didn’t tell them to plant a church somewhere where there aren’t enough? I’m a little cynical, because I’ve seen too many churches planted in areas that I just didn’t think need them (areas that were already very well served by the churches they have) and I wonder how many of those “fail"…
However… I wonder if other communities nearby are kicking churches out and that’s why all these churches are planting here? Anybody in Stafford? Can you tell us what the climate is like?
You have to feel for the leadership of the community. If the churches are going there primarily because of the financial benefits and if most of the people are then traveling from outside of the community, something is haywire.
When the city officials say, “If you can’t find religion in Stafford, Texas, you ain’t looking hard enough,” then may be 51 churches is the limit. Someone has to pay for the infrastructure. I live in a community of 140,000 and we have about 70 churches. Stafford needs relief.
Stafford is just out side Sugar land and is one of the fastest growing areas
in the nation. A lot of churches are moving into the area.
It really bugs me when community leaders are trying to manage well, equally dispurse resources and services to residents, generate tax revenue in a prudent way that is fair to all citizens, businesses and NPO’s . . . and some Evangelical Christian plays the “religious freedom” card. Would they voice the same complaint if the town was being overtaken by Buddhists Temples or Hindu Mosques or Mormons? Probably not.
There could be a dozens of reasons (good and not so good) that planning commissions say no to a church that wants to build in a community. But by the time it hits the local paper, you can almost be sure that the spin we’ll read from the pastor and members is “persecution from ‘the world’ because of our faith” and “violating our 1st amendment rights.” Hogwash, and it makes the Christians look like pretty lousy citizens.
Plus . . . as Peter says . . . shouldn’t every new church be looking for a place where people aren’t being reached?
Wendi
Imagine is all those churches merged and worked together ... rather than have 51 churches have one?
Gman says “Imagine is all those churches merged and worked together ... rather than have 51 churches have one?”
YEAH! I’m curious to know if and how they work together there! I know how hard it is to get churches to work together around this town.
Last night I was standing with the wind blowing through my hair; the taste of dirt and sand thick in my throat. I could not help but smile from within the depth of my very being as I stood against the side of the church building. I laughed at times as I could feel ants crawling across my toes. Oh, to some it is nothing but a trailor home on the outskirts of town. Another town in Texas.
For months, individuals in several churches have been praying for our community and surrounding areas. A woman had a dream about a field and a tent. (No, that woman was not me.) A group was formed, comprised of several new and older churches, to make this dream a reality.
This church has had difficulties in the past keeping a pastor. The conditions are simply not what most would not consider favorable.
A young girl walked up to me and asked if we would be back again Tuesday night. Getting on my knees and looking into her eyes, I replied, “Yes, we will be.” She smiled and hugged me. She went on inside the church building where there were things going on for children.
While I am all for using the latest technology to reach people for Christ, they are merely but a tool. Sometimes what is truly needed is a person or group reaching out in what might be considered unfavorable conditions. Someone else probably calls it home.
The woman spoke about her dream from inside the tent. A man gave his testimony about hitting rock bottom and crying out to God, and what has happened since. One of the many pastors there gave a sermon/message. Really he just talked from his heart with scripture and the Holy Spirit as his guide/foundation.
Individuals, including the young girl, gave their lives to Christ. What are favorable conditions again?
More than follow-up is planned as well. Churches can work together. People have to let it happen.
This is a tough situation. I would agree that there somehow needs to be a moratorium on more churches coming into that area. But I don’t know how you would do it without opening up Pandora’s box. Maybe it would be a great witness to the community if some of those churches would step up and say that they would move to another town in the interest of what’s best for the citizens of Stafford.
AM I wrong or do churches NOT pay taxes in other cities? This little town has “no property taxes” for anyone else, so the problem seems to be that they are trying to LURE businesses but keep church’s from using up all available ‘commercial’ property…
IT IS TOO BAD that churches don’t look into other facilities elsewhere, but I can understand that RENTING a space is going to be cheaper if the landlord doesn’t have taxes to pay.
Seems like this “GROWING CITY” on the doorstep of Houston needs to look at their own issues. Can you really continue to operate like a little town in the country when the city comes out to get you? Police and public services are going to only increase and there is NO way a town (OR A CHURCH) can grow by doing things “the same way they’ve always been.”
My question with this is why they really have an issue with it. I mean, living in Pickens County South Carolina (in what’s left of the “Bible belt"), there’s 183 churches in the county, 80 of those in the city itself. Nobody down here is complaining.. I say get over it. They should be happy they have multiples of churches in town and now multiples of bars or taverns..
I think the number of churches wouldn’t be such an issue if the town weren’t so limited in its space. I live in Texas in a town of about 24,000 people and approx. 54 churches. That’s pretty close to the numbers for Stafford. But our city is 21 square miles rather than just 7, and there’s still plenty of room for development. With Stafford only having 300 acres of land left for development, I can see where they would want to encourage businesses that would add to the sales tax revenue and in turn support city services.
The right thing for the churches to do in this situation:
Impose on themselves a voluntary tax to fund the needed infrastructure for the city
... or get out.
Nothing express love for the city, incarnational ministry and a good dose of common grace/sense like voluntarily taking care of the place they call home.... unless they’re just interested in using the city like everyone else.
Do the math… if you have 51 churches an 20,000 people it STILL isn’t enough churches folks! If EVERYONE went to church in these 51 churches there would be a total of 392 people in each church. Since the average church size in America is 100 people or less. We can assume that the town probably only has 10,000 folks in a church on any given Sunday morning.
The issue here, it seems, is that the town needs to attract more business revenue. This is something the churches could work TOGETHER with the town on. Churches should be helping to inspire god given business ideas and ventures. Nobody is more creative that God. I agree that a town of 7 sq miles as some serious creative issues… but if the churches here this as a call to HELP the town it could be beneficial.
Z.
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