Drive around your town or city and you will see many church buildings that are still in use. But you will also see many church buildings that are no longer functioning as churches. Some church buildings are torn down to make way for new buildings ... some just become vacatnt lots. Some church buildings are simply abandoned and left to the whims of time and the elements.
But many church buildings get repurposed. I've started this blog in the hopes of collecting pictures of churches that have been repurposed. Many smaller towns around the U.S., for example, have seen old church buildings repurposed as Historical Societies, museums, or thrift shops. But churches have also been repurposed as homes, restaurants, pubs, breweries, and stores.
I have mixed emotions when I see a repurposed church building. I'm thankful that a historic building has been preserved. But I'm also saddened that the intended purpose of the church building is no longer sustained.
At times church congregations outgrow their building and so they move to a new location and build a bigger building. But far more often, it seems, congregations shrink and are no longer able to sustain their building. And as neighborhoods change sometimes the people of a particular congregation move away leaving their old church building behind. A new congregation may inhabit the old church building ... but far too often church buildings stand as dormant reminders of a time past.
As I'm able, I'll post pictures of repurposed church buildings or links to articles about re-purposed church buildings. You can help by sending me pictures and info about church buildings that you know of that have been repurposed.
I'm also a fan of other sorts of buildings that have been repurposed for church buildings. But that is beyond the scope of this particular blog. Just as church buildings have been repurposed as restaurants and bars, I've been to churches that once were restaurants and bars. I guess turnabout is fair play, right?
So send me your pictures of repurposed churches in your neighborhood.
Here's a church that's been repurposed as an art center. The art center hosts plays, live musical productions, art showings, etc. It is located in the beautiful Village of Clinton, NY (just a few miles from where I used to live in Westmoreland, NY)
