I know of congregations taking a loan against the assets, creating a separate trust fund, and then leaving, using the trust fund to buy their new land or building.
The old leverage used to be the pension fund, too. Ministers lost all rights for thinking about leaving. In one famous case a widow left the ALC and lost her benefits. When she rejoined, her benefits were still taken away. That scared the pants off of most clergy. Some still think the pension belongs to the synod, not to the person.
There's one hierarchy that doesn't take the Book of James' definition of "true religion" seriously.
"----To hell with the widows, we want our perks!"