100,000 Churches Could Close: Christianity Today Examines What Happens to the Buildings

• A researcher predicted up to 100,000 North American churches could close
• In 2019, about 4,500 churches closed and 3,000 opened
• Median church size fell from 137 in 2000 to 65 in 2020
• Buildings cost $7 to $10 per square foot a year to operate

As congregations shrink, what should happen to their buildings? Christianity Today explored the question in September 2023 in a report by David Roach.

The numbers were sobering. Presbyterian researcher Eileen Lindner has predicted that as many as 100,000 North American churches could close. In 2019, about 4,500 churches closed while 3,000 opened. The median congregation fell from 137 people in 2000 to 65 in 2020, and church buildings cost between $7 and $10 per square foot each year to operate.

Churches are finding different answers. St Peter’s United Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky, became The Village at West Jefferson. A Montreal Anglican church shares space with a circus company and a refugee group. Emory Fellowship in Washington DC and Arlington Presbyterian in Virginia developed affordable housing. In Ottumwa, Iowa, eight churches closed and three were turned into an arts space, a medical office and a home.

“The community has really been renewed in many ways. This is doing the work of serving the poor,” said Patrick Duggan of the Church Building and Loan Fund. Rick Reinhard of Niagara Consulting Group warned: “The future is not a stand-alone church with a fence around it, divided from the neighborhood, isolated from the neighborhood.” Shannon Hopkins of Rooted Good said: “This is a time of hope. While a lot of the narrative is about decline, this is a really unique moment of opportunity.” Southern Baptist Mark Clifton offered a different view: “Closing churches robs God of his glory.”

The report shows that the question is not only whether a church survives, but what its building becomes: housing, shared space or a new congregation’s home.

Jamaica’s situation is different, but some congregations may have buildings larger than their current attendance needs. Knowing the running cost per square foot, and exploring sharing, leasing or housing on spare land, can keep a building serving the community whatever happens to the congregation.

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