Despite the threat of eminent domain, I believe that it is possible for the churches to not only survive, but to thrive in this environment. But to do so, the leadership in our churches are going to have to be willing to change the way that they do things, and the membership of our churches are going to have to be willing to participate.

A good beginning would be to make certain that Christians know about the threat, and what they can do to fight it. As a group, Christians have a tremendous amount of power available to them if they are willing to use it.

As in other cases, this case on eminent domain was slipped in under the radar screen. Comparatively few people were aware that this case was being brought to the Supreme Court. A similar thing happened with prayer in school and abortion. It’s not that it was all kept secret; it is just that it was not repeatedly announced from the pulpit in advance of the early court cases.

So to begin, Christians need to do everything possible to be aware of what is going on around them, both nationally and locally. This would allow them to deal with issues before they become issues, especially at the local level, when they are in a position to put pressure on government officials or to become government officials themselves.

Christians wield tremendous economic power as well.

It would be wise for all churches to set aside regular funds for lawsuits. Yes, I am aware of the admonitions against lawsuits in the scriptures; but that regards brother-against-brother situations. I do not believe that the scriptures prohibit lawsuits by the local church against any private or public entity that threatens their existence.

The ability to wage legal war is right out the playbook of the ACLU, who has used this tactic time and time again. To get what they want, they usually only have to threaten to file a lawsuit, and even large cities will cave in quickly. However, the threat of legal war has to be very real, and to be able to make that threat real, churches must be financially able to follow through if their bluff is called. That is also a tactic out of the playbook of the ACLU, and it is very effective.

Another economic power that the church has as a whole is the power of the boycott, but this will only work if churches are willing to work together. For example, if a city wants to take a church to give to the developer of a shopping center, all of the churches in the city should make it clear that their members will not be making any purchases at that shopping center. This would encourage the developer to back off and find another location. But again, it will only work if the people in the churches are willing to follow through with the boycott.

Another tactic is to make your church property attractive to the public and unattractive as a target for eminent domain.

The biggest excuse that will be used to take church property is that it is “blighted” or is in a blighted area. Making your church property attractive to the public includes things like maintaining your building and grounds in good repair and providing parking and traffic control that does not cause problems with neighbors. But if a church is in a blighted area over which it has no control, it might be wise to move somewhere else.

The selection of a new site for a relocating church should be done very carefully and with foresight into how the area around it might develop. It would not be smart to place a new church in an area that is in a growing retail or industrial area. In other words, churches should not paint a bulls-eye on themselves by locating in an area that is an obvious target.

Finally, Christians have to get involved in getting this dangerous, un-American ruling reversed. Christians need to be running for political office and placing themselves in those government positions that have the ability to abuse eminent domain. If Christians were to hold those positions, then this ruling would have no teeth, because those Christians would not abuse the power of eminent domain.

The survival of the church is critical to the spread of the Gospel in this ever-increasing secular country of ours. Christians in America have to be willing to sacrifice and to fight for that.