Officials want to complete the sale of the University Lutheran Chapel by the end of the year. The congregation is trying to raise money to buy the church. The minimum price is set at $3.2 million.

Pastor Darrell Geddes could be excused if he found it a little tough to preach about tolerance and rising above adversity after a thief destroyed the $100,000 air conditioning unit at Christ Church International, KSTP reports. It left a sweltering sanctuary during the hottest start to July in a century.

Bradley Schmeling resigned from his post at an Atlanta church and will join Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul. Pastors Schmeling and Darin Easler made national news and triggered a fierce fight within the Lutheran community when they made their relationship public. Church leadership removed both men from the clergy roster but later reinstated them after the church voted to accept gay clergy members in relationships.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka will be allowed to build a house of worship on a residential parcel of land after all. A 2010 federal suit alleges that the city's blockade of the project was a violation of the church's First Amendment rights to free speech and religious worship.

A growing number of rural Midwestern churches -- where generations have been baptized, married and buried -- are closing their doors as rural America loses residents to cities and suburbs. "There’s a kind of sadness to see the rural decline,” one observer says.

The mass shooting Sunday at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. has prompted the Minnesota Conference of Churches to call for a statewide day of prayer. The council asked in a statement that Christians on Sunday pray for the victims and their family, take time to learn more about the Sikh religion, and find ways of "standing in solidarity" with the Sikh community.

A St. Paul church that saw a large number of worshipers exit over its pastor's support of gay marriage is closing. Grace Community United Church of Christ, the only UCC church in Minnesota with a predominantly black congregation, said Friday it will not seek an extension to the Saturday deadline to raise $200,000 to pay off loan and legal fees.

The congregation gathered for the first time this weekend after a fire destroyed the building a week ago. KARE 11 says prayers, singing, and a moment of silence highlighted Sunday's service at the Heart of the Beast Theater on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Members of the Walker Community Church will continue to meet at the theater for the remainder of the summer.