Not long after we posted today that Mt. Bethel Church is dropping its sponsorship of a Boy Scout troop due to rising insurance costs, we learned of more changes afoot for other church-related activities.
Teachers and parents of the Mt. Bethel Day Care Center (615 Woodlawn Drive) were notified last week it would be closing as of Dec. 16, saying labor shortages and rising costs, including insurance liability, were among the reasons.
Mt. Bethel Church is selling that property and three other pieces of land it owns: a community center next door, and two parcels across Lower Roswell Road.
One of the day care parents has started a Go Fund Me account to financially assist the 12 staff members who will be out of jobs. That fundraiser has netted more than $1,500 out of a goal of $10,000.
Samantha Black, a spokeswoman for Mt. Bethel Church, said the decision to close the day care—which has 28 children from 22 families—came as part of a broad evaluation of services, activities and properties by church leadership as it adjusts to being an independent church.
“It was becoming too difficult to continue operating a day care at the standards we expect,” she said. While deciding to sell the other properties were easier calls, she said, “closing a day care was tough. It has had a great history for 22 years.”
She said 60 percent of the families of the children enrolled in the day care have found other arrangements, and existing pre-school and day care services on the main Mt. Bethel campus on Lower Roswell Road remain available.
The staff members will be receiving what Black said were “generous” severance benefits through the end of the year.
Mt. Bethel Church separated from the United Methodist Church this summer following a court settlement that stemmed from a disputed reappointment of Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jody Ray in 2021.
In the settlement, Mt. Bethel paid the North Georgia Conference of the UMC $13.1 million. During their legal dispute, the Conference estimated the value of the Mt. Bethel properties at more than $35 million.
In the consent decree (you can read it here), Mt. Bethel was allowed to keep eight parcels that it could sell without restrictions.
Those properties are currently appraised by Cobb County at nearly $1.5 million. The properties being sold are appraised collectively at $771,670.
The church is prevented from selling eight other parcels, including the main church campus and parking lot, for seven and a half years without giving the UMC and its North Georgia Conference the right of first refusal to purchase them.
The appraised value of the restricted properties is $1.085 million, according to Cobb Tax Assessor’s Office records.
The day care is located on 0.967 acres appraised at $317,220, according to current Cobb property tax records.
Those records show Mt. Bethel paid more than $965,000 in 2002 for the land and 6,156-square-foot building that was completed in 1990.
The community center adjacent to the day care sits on 1.2 acres at 4608 Lower Roswell Road and has an appraised value of $145,270.
Across the street, two properties are being put up for sale that are next to the post office branch.
A former homesite known as the Cagle House (4525 Lower Roswell Road) has an appraised value of $124,860 on 0.9 acres.
Next to that, at 4505 Lower Roswell Road, is a vacant lot of 0.8 acres appraised at $184,320.
Black said the Cagle House has been used for Mt. Bethel’s Backpack Blessings program that will relocate to the main campus.
The other properties that Mt. Bethel holds free and clear are two homes on Fairfield Drive that have served as parsonages and another that houses a special-needs program.
Those are not being sold, nor is the Mt. Bethel Cemetery on Johnson Ferry Road next to the Zaxby’s, Black said.
Those four properties combined are appraised at $671,850.
Ferrell Coppedge, Mt. Bethel’s lay leader, said in a statement Black provided to East Cobb News that “now that Mt. Bethel is out from under the Trust Clause of the UMC, we have newfound freedom to take a fresh look at our ministry priorities and how our assets and properties can best support them. Proceeds from the sale of Mt. Bethel’s properties can be redeployed for vital ministry.
“Most of these properties were originally bought for their potential to house a high school, not to support active ministry of the church,” Coppedge said. “As part of responsible stewardship, our committees, our leadership council and our pastors will continue to evaluate how Mt. Bethel’s assets can best support the ministry of the church.”
The Mt. Bethel Christian Academy campus on Post Oak Tritt was not subject to the terms of the lawsuit. That 33.4-acre parcel near the intersection of Holly Springs Road, which conducts high school classes and worship services, is appraised at $7.3 million.
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