By 2030, it is estimated that as many as 9,000 Canadian churches and other places of worship, out of about 27,000, could be closed. In the U.S., that figure is 100,000 out of about 380,000 that could close in the next 20 years. If that happens, what’s going to happen to all those buildings, and the land they sit on?
That’s the question being asked in Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (2024, Eerdmans).
Read my Free Press column about the book, in which various authors highlight the challenges facing congregations in the years ahead as membership and attendance falls and interest in traditional forms of religion wane—and provide ideas for how they can re-purpose their buildings. (Including giving the land back to Indigenous groups.)
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