Houses of God

It is hard not to notice the booming condo industry around here. A couple have recently caught my eye and broke my heart.







Old churches. Buildings that slowly grew emptier as members of congregations aged and/or moved to the suburbs. Remnants of an old concept- the neighborhood church. Breaks my heart for 2 reasons: At one point these churchs ceased being relevant to the communities in which they are located- and they will not have a second chance at housing a congregation who would seek to make it relevant.

I know that the building is not what matters...but they hold so much history and tradition that it is a shame to see them being used for something other than worship. The church I now attend, although it's a 7-year-old contemporary church, was lucky be given a beautiful old church building that spent most of its years being the neighborhood Baptist church. The buildings above weren't lucky enough to have a new community of believers who were ready to (or could afford to) move in.

If churches do seek to relocate downtown, to get one of these precious buildings they would have to buy back the 5-8 units at $300,000-$800,000 each and then reverse all the remodeling done to divide them. I don't think that will happen to any of them anytime soon...but one can dream.



I guess it is just a challenge. The church (believers, not buildings) must change to fit the needs of a new demographic, with or without a neighborhood congregation.