What Do We Do with Empty(ing) Church Buildings?

Looking at an aging congregation, empty pews, lack of leaders, and a growing budget deficit is a challenge for those who grew up with confident affirmations such as “I can do all things through Christ,” “the gates of hell will not prevail,” and “dedicated to the glory of God.” Yet here we are facing possibly massive numbers of churches closing. And based on current stats on the state of things for Christian churches in the West, that day may be sooner than anticipated.
 
It is a difficult time in the life of any church in the West, and there is no cookie-cutter solution that works for all cases. That said, over the decades I have seen good decisions and bad decisions over the usage of church property in time of crisis. And here is what I see as some guiding principles and convictions to shape a constructive response to such a predicament.

• This is Nothing New 

 
Church closures are not new. For close to two thousand years Christians have had to deal with the loss of church buildings. In those past cases, the causes were events such as conquest (eg. churches turned into mosques or temples), war (eg. bombing campaigns), revolution (eg. French Revolution, Communism), or inter-Christian conflict (eg. Reformation). In such cases churches either ceased to exist or became the property of another organization or religion. In other words, your struggles are not as unique as you may think.
 

• The Church is Not a Building

 
I am using the term “church” as a reference to the building. But technically the “church” is the people, not the physical building. In other words, a building may be slated for demolition, but that does not mean the church (even a handful of people) cannot carry on and even thrive in a person’s living room.
 

• God is the Owner

 
This point seems obvious but still needs to be said. While the deed may not have God’s name on it, amid all the heart and soul searching for answers, and despite issues of legal control of the property (and various denominations differ on this point) ultimately the building itself belongs to God. We are merely stewards of his assets, and that truth needs to be foreground in deliberations.
 

• Past Sacrifices Require Current Sacrifices

 
Those from previous generations who founded the church sacrificed a great deal to purchase land and construct a church building. They are the “great cloud of witnesses” that are counting on our good governance to ensure the survival of their investment of having a physical place of worship in that location. That does not mean property can never be sold, it is to say, however, that we need to treat what we have today as a sacred trust from those who came before us.
 

• Church Property is a Physical Witness 

 
There is great value to having a church building, for its very existence is a witness to reality of a Christian presence in that neighbourhood. And the bricks, stone, glass, and wood are, in a material sense, a witness testifying to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Thus, the loss of a church building is a loss of witness.
 

• Holding on is a Statement of Hope 

 
Holding on to church property in the face of great odds is a gesture of hope for the future. Yes, we in the West may be in the doldrums now, but by holding on there is on display an implicit trust that God will once again bring revival and that the church will once again grow in such a way as to require your building…and you are holding the ground waiting for that day. 
 

• Church Property Should Stay Church Property

            
Ideally church property should remain church property. At the end of the day, which Christian denomination that purchases the church does not really matter – what is ideal is that a Christian witness remains in that neighborhood through the continued use of the church building by a group of Christians.
 

• Avoid the Blame Game

 
Of course, the poor and unorthodox decisions of churches can and have led to their demise.[1] However, as I note in a previous blog, not all church closures are the “fault” of the church.[2] There are many factors that lead to demise of churches – so it may not be necessary to beat yourselves up for the crisis.
 

• Leverage Your Assets to Save the Day

 
The very thing that seems to be a drag on the Christian community (eg. expensive physical assets like a building) may be the very thing that saves the day. Stated simply, church property should be leveraged to generate revenue. This is key - use buildings and property as leverage to generate income (eg. rental, lease, hybrid/shared worship space), but do not sell. Developers often offer a sum of money to take the property off your hands and then use your property to make big bucks for themselves. A better solution is figure out a way to use your property (perhaps in partnership with a developer or gifted Christian businessperson) to make the “big bucks” for yourself so that your church survives and even thrives without the burden of debt or lack of income.
 

• Provide a Decent Burial

 
If worse comes to worse, prepare a fitting ending if there is no way to save the church property. For instance, make sure the history is recorded and archived, migrate sacred objects to other places of worship, have a banquet to celebrate the past and honor those who remain, and, if the building is being demolished or used for something other than a church, use a desacralizing liturgy to make the building a “mere” building.[3]
 

• Endow for the Future

​One final note. The temptation for denominations is often to use the cash raised by the sale of such properties to fund their operating budget for that year. That is a grave error often made due to pressing financial crises and shortsighted aims. Ideally all the money raised from such sales would go into an endowment fund to support other churches that struggle and/or be used to plant new churches. The principle of the endowment fund should never be spent, just the interest. And in that way, the church that “died” lives on giving life to other churches in perpetuity.


[1] For instance, see a previous blog entitled “The Decline of Methodism, the Rise of Post-Christendom, and Agency”: https://www.gordonlheath.com/blog/the-decline-of-methodism-the-rise-of-post-christendom-and-agency

[2] See “Church Closures: Not Always Due to Ichabod,” gordonlheath.com (22 June 2023): https://www.gordonlheath.com/blog/church-closures-not-always-due-to-ichabod

[3] For example, see https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/Deconsecration-of-a-Sacred-Space.pdf