Pre Fab Log Homes

'Instant churches' convert public schools to worship spaces

C. 2011 USA Today

(RNS) Praise the Lord and pass the crates with the prefab pulpit and the portable baptistery inside. The Forest Hills Community Church is moving into P.S. 144 -- sort of.

Every Sunday morning, the elementary school in Queens, like dozens more schools in New York City and thousands more nationwide, is transformed into a house of worship for a few hours.

There's no tally of how many churches, synagogues and mosques convert public school spaces into prayer places. But what's clear is that there has been a steady rise in numbers as congregations find schools to be available, affordable and accessible to families they want to reach.

Critics, including some courts, are concerned that these arrangements are an unconstitutional entanglement of church and state. They say these bargain permits effectively subsidize religious congregations that would have to pay steeply higher prices on the open market. They also note that the practice appears to favor Christian groups, which worship on Sundays -- when school spaces are most often available.

Caught in the middle: congregations such as Forest Hills, which spent $3,000 for a permit to use P.S. 144 from February through June, and just renewed for July and August.

For September and beyond, however, nothing is certain.

The city's Department of Education, which has been trying for a decade to oust the congregations from its schools and end the weekend worship practice, won the latest legal round in June. As the case winds its way through more appeals, an injunction allows about 60 congregations to remain in place and the permit process to continue.

So Forest Hills' evangelical founder and pastor, Jeremy Sweeten, still rises early each Sunday, hitches up a 20-foot trailer and tows it to the school. The trailer, packed by PortableChurch.com, has every bit of paraphernalia needed to create a sanctuary and children's Bible classes.

By 10 a.m., the Assemblies of God congregation of about 60 adults is raising their voices in song and prayer. Then about 1 p.m., as swiftly as they came, they're gone, with every offering basket stashed and every Bible boxed away.

It's a familiar scene in many communities across the nation: -- A USA Today look at the five largest and five fastest-growing school districts in the continental U.S. found that all 10 had granted permits for religious congregations to hold weekend worship.

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