Mars Hill purchases church building just blocks from the University of Washington campus. Site to become University District Campus

In the meantime, some members of University Baptist Church say they are happy with the sale to Mars Hill.

Though membership at University Baptist had gone up slightly in recent years, from about 100 to 120, that’s still much lower than its peak of about 800 in the 1930s and ’40s.

The building, built in 1925 with an addition in 1938, has a sanctuary that seats 400. But the average attendance at worship these days is about 70.

It was costing the small congregation too much to keep up with the infrastructure demands — plumbing and wiring, for instance — of a large, old building. Members decided it would be better to sell the building and use the money instead for mission projects, including possibly feeding the hungry or housing the homeless.

Starting at 10:30 a.m. this Sunday, the congregation will worship — and have church offices — in rented space at University Christian Church at 4731 15th Ave. N.E.

“We’re excited about it,” said Tom Nielsen, chairman of the building-sale team at University Baptist Church. The sale “will free up dollar resources and personal-time resources. Instead of trying to keep a building going, we can do mission projects we’re interested in doing.”

While I can’t comment much on Mars Hill, and know even less about UBC, I do think that the attitude expressed by UBC is praiseworthy. It’s hard to let go of a church or of a building that many have grow up in and cling to, but they seem to be keeping an eye on the important thing - ministry activity and not just ‘maintaining the building’. Good for the Building Sale team for recognizing this and moving the church in a better direction!