1,400 Former Churches and 30 Per Cent Are Now Homes: What the Netherlands Did With Its Surplus Churches

• About 1,400 of the Netherlands’ 6,900 church buildings are no longer used for worship
• About 30 per cent of repurposed churches became housing
• 850 Protestant and 280 Catholic churches built since 1800 have been repurposed
• Research by the newspaper Trouw found Catholics were less willing to sell

About one in five church buildings in the Netherlands is no longer used for worship, Evangelical Focus reported in July 2019, citing research by the Dutch newspaper Trouw.

Of the country’s 6,900 registered church buildings, about 1,400 now serve other purposes. The research found that 850 of about 3,000 Protestant church buildings built since 1800 had been repurposed, compared with 280 of about 1,500 Catholic buildings. Most of the repurposed buildings were built between 1800 and 1970, while churches built before 1800 have “almost all remained in the hands of the Church authorities.”

Housing was the most common new use. About 30 per cent of repurposed churches were converted to homes such as apartments, 20 per cent to cultural and social uses, and 15 per cent to offices and businesses.

Trouw found a difference between the traditions: “Roman Catholics are generally much less open to sell church buildings, because they consider the building to have a sacramental and holy meaning, whereas Protestants do not attribute this significance to buildings.”

The Dutch figures show that when church buildings become surplus, housing is often the most practical use. Jamaica’s churches differ in age and design, but the choice is similar: many 20th-century church buildings in towns could become homes, schools or community spaces. Denominations may also need to discuss how they view the sale of sacred buildings before the pressure to sell arrives.