Columbus Methodist church listed for sale as 'redevelopment opportunity'

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- While a Columbus site home to a Methodist church has been listed for sale, the church's leaders say they are working to find a new home for their congregation.

Located at 200 E. Livingston Ave., the 1.9-acre property currently occupied by Livingston United Methodist Church has been listed for sale by The Robert Weiler Company. Now, the church says it is working with Weiler not only to select a buyer who will likely redevelop the land but also to find a new home in which United Methodist will "root ourselves for many more years of ministry to come."

"From the moment redevelopment of this land was first considered, the intent has always been to find a new space where the Livingston community could build something new together," church leaders wrote in a December newsletter. "As the Church moves further into the 21st century, we are looking to build something that better suits the needs of our mission and ministry, with the partnerships we currently foster."

Weiler's listing, which does not include a price, boasts the church property as "ripe for redevelopment," noting the site's proximity to Nationwide Children's Hospital and downtown Columbus.

Although the 16,700-square-foot church was built in the 1960s, Livingston UMC was founded in 1843 as an outreach to the German immigrant community. UMC's site states that the congregation's original church was built in 1845 and then replaced in 1872 by a larger building. The 1872 church was later torn down and replaced by the current Livingston Avenue in 1966.

The church's site says its mission is "to follow God's calling, reaching out in God's love, hospitality, hope, and healing so that all may experience and share the joy of belonging to God, regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, economic status, living situation, sexual orientation, or gender identity."

In the December newsletter, church leadership said a previous possible sale of the land "fell apart after the buyer was unable to secure funding and ceased all communication." The church then determined that working with Weiler "would be the best path for us to take in finding a buyer for the land."

"The site is indeed for sale; the mission and ministry of Livingston United Methodist Church are not," the newsletter said. "We are taking our next faithful steps toward what new thing God is calling us to do and be."