Church foreclosures, a virtually unheard-of phenomenon before the downturn, are surging, with hundreds of congregations faced with losing their buildings, the San Francisco Chronicle writes.

Though the economic troubles cross denominations, hardest-hit are small and midsize evangelical churches, many of which took advantage of the pre-recession property boom to expand their programs and facilities and found themselves consumed by debt when the market collapsed.

CoStar, a real estate service, said 270 churches have been sold by banks nationwide since 2010, compared to only a handful in prior years. ForeclosureRadar, which tracks California foreclosures, found that more than 800 religious properties in that state alone have been through some stage of the process since 2006.