I think you will do just as well with the 7000. Use the money for a faster lens. Buy a 2.8 or faster FX lens. It will actually work better on the 7000 than on a FF camera because you will be getting the benefit of using the central focus area of the lens and eliminate some of the edge softness inherent in all lenses. Also, if in the future, you decide to go with FF, you will already have invested in lenses that will work. Check out the FF Tamron 24-70 2.8. People I know who own that lens like it a lot and I think it would work well inside a church.

I have a 700 that I bought to back up my 800. I find myself using the D7000 more than the 700. The 700 is a great camera but lower in pixel count and not as good handling digital noise as the 7000. Also it will only use CF cards when SD is the standard for today's cameras. CF cards are less available except on line and cost more than SD cards. Check into a referb D7100. This will give you a 24mpx camera vs. the 17mpx of the 7000. The cost I would think would be about the same as for a used 700 and the technology and noise handling ability is two generations beyond the 700. The only downside I could imagine would be if you are really into wide angle shooting. Due to the crop factor of the 7000/7100 a 24mm lens will only get you a 36mm wide angle equivalent. On the upside though, if you like shooting birds etc., a 300mm telephoto will give you 450mm of power. You said you can get a 700 at an attractive price but be careful. Used equipment does not come with a warranty and if you buy referb equipment you will have at least a 90 day warranty and often a 1 year warranty.

Easier to edit individual files in Capture One, but I do that in LR by simply setting up a "temp" folder that is polled by LR. When something shows up, either by tethered capture or simply by my importing a file into this "watched" folder, it is added to the catalog and I can edit, save the edits, or delete the whole thing. This is how I manage students' work when they need my advice and guidance on an image.

Anyway, I completely understand the question, because you, like nearly everyone I know that has thought about using LR, are concerned about and have reservations about how the catalog works. You also do not have an understanding about how it works.

I will tell you a short story - I have had a file structure that is pretty well organized, just the way I like it, since 2000. I began using LR in 2011. My file structure is still completely intact. If you look in Windows Explorer, the main folder where my pictures are, you cannot detect at what point I began using LR. Nothing has changed. I import the files to my computer using LR, but instead of first creating the folder and copying the files as I used to do, I open the import dialog, select copy files, and specify where they go - and LR creates the folder on the fly. I could also just do as I have always done, and navigate to the folder in the folder view in LR's Library module and sync the folder, and use the Add option to just add the files to the catalog without moving or creating copies of them.

The advantage of a catalog/database is that it is simple and organized. Rating, Tagging, Keywording, creating multiple virtual collections, etc is so fast and easy. As an example, I have some pictures in several collections, lets call them waterfalls, cats and dogs, landscapes, small birds, large birds. I needed to assemble a group of 21 images in a new collection for an art exhibit, using some of the images in the other collections. I created a new collection called Aug 26 exhibit and made it the target collection. As I reviewed the images in each of the contributing collections I click on the B key to add the image to the collection. If I change my mind afterwards or if when viewing the target collection I find I need to remove images from the collection, I press B again to remove it from the current collection. I have over 100,000 images, but this process took me less than 15 mins, and I did not have to mess around with creating folders, moving or copying files, etc, as I would have in the past.

I am able to teach this to complete newbies that are not particularly computer savvy in a matter of a couple of hours, and it makes perfect sense to them, and they begin using it immediately.

I do not see any value in disabling the catalog - what is it that you feel you would gain by turning it off?