I think you and I are thinking of different things when we use the word "rent". Maybe I should have said "lease"
What I was suggesting was leasing of a church property, on maybe a 5 year lease arrangement. You would pay rent monthly. There would be no weekly setup or take down -- you would be the only occupant.
In other words, envision a standard church setup, only instead of the church owning the deed, the property is owned by a third party and the congregation pays rent rather than mortgage
As I said before, this avoids providing a target for looting. And as the congregation does not represent assets, only cash flow, it provides an incentive to the upper hierarchy to avoid annoying congregations to the point where they leave
Yes, you are right. It appears that we were looking at different things. I understand now. You were thinking more of a long term lease of commercial space (like an empty ex-KMart or Albertsons or old style multiplex theaters) that could be built out to specs. That would be different than what I was discussing. And, with that clarification, there is merit to your proposal.
That would probably be most workable in the older inner ring suburbs - less available space in the new suburbs.
The other solution to the problem is to do what we did - affiliate with a denomination that doesn't have any control over the property (although that doesn't prevent takeovers on a church-by-church basis.)