New uses for places of worship: Stories about ways congregations are responding to needs in their communities

 

I’m working on a feature about churches that are creatively converting their buildings and properties into community hubs and affordable housing. It got me thinking about the various articles I have written on this topic, going back 15 years—nine articles in total. 

It’s an important issue; sometime in the next five to ten years, a third of Canada’s estimated 27,000 places of worship (most of them churches) are slated to close due to falling attendance.

What can be done? And what is already happening? If you want to learn more, check out some of the links below. 

My first article on the topic was in 2010, when I wrote an overview of the situation in Canada titled Keeping Faith in Historic Churches. 

I did another one in 2015, titled Does it Matter if a Historic Church Closes? The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes—for various reasons, including all the community, newcomer, arts and recovery groups that would lose space. 

In 2017, I wrote about The Halo Effect, or What are Places of Worship Really Worth to a Community? It’s about a way of calculating the economic value of places of worship in a community—and what would be lost if they disappeared. (I wrote about it again in 2023 for Canadian Affairs; according to the Halo Effect, places of worship are worth over $18 billion to the Canadian economy.) 

In 2019, I wrote about a church in Ottawa that had been converted into a meeting and convention space. “We worked with the community to repurpose it,” Leanne Moussa, president of allsaints Development Inc., said of how the building became a popular venue for weddings, funerals, parties, conferences, theatre, concerts and other events. 

In 2024, I interviewed Mark Elsdon, editor of the book Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition. Elsdon created the book to get congregations to start thinking now about what happens when there are no longer enough people to make their church viable. Rather than wait until there are few options on the table, “Let’s talk about it now, get in front of it,” he said. 

And this year I interviewed leaders of some Lutheran churches in Canada who are converting their buildings and properties into affordable housing. I was taken by the words of Jennifer Hoover, the congregational redevelopment advisor for the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, about a new way for congregations to view the changes they are experiencing today. 

“We need to reframe that narrative, away from one of having failed,” she said, explaining that it is a chance for congregations “to think about what new thing is possible, about new ways they can use the building in ways that are consistent with their mission, vision and values.” 

Also in 2025 I did a story about Winnipeg’s Lutheran Church of the Cross, which closed so its building could be converted into apartments for seniors. And one about how Gordon King Memorial Church in Winnipeg has reimagined itself as a community hub, including a popular coffee house named “Gordie’s.”

It’s an ongoing story; with so many buildings slated to close, there will be many more opportunities to write about this topic.

Photo above: St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Kitchener, which is converting its Christian education wing into affordable housing.

 

 

News about the Canadian government and religion (the kind that doesn't fit the anti-religion narrative)

We live at a time when some people of faith (mostly conservative Christians) view the current government as anti-religion for various reasons. Some of them are worth informed discussion, while others are based on misinformation—often deliberately stoked by groups who benefit from hair-on-fire fear mongering.

 

So it’s nice to offer a different take on news about the Canadian government and religion, starting with an unusual decision by Statistics Canada to break with over 150 years of tradition by asking Canadians about their religious affiliation every five years, not every ten years, starting in 2026.

 

This is a change from how the agency has only asked the question every ten years, since 1871. Now the time span is just five years.

 

The reason for the change is to get a better handle on the rise of the “nones” in Canada; it is expected to go above 40 per cent next year. At the same time, there is a dramatic rise in the number of Canadians who are part of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. 

 

That is followed by news about how the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reached out to faith groups in fall to ask them to talk to their members about measles. As one observer put it, the request shows that the government views faith groups as trustworthy partners when it comes to sharing messages about this outbreak.

 

Read about those stories in my recent Free Press column.

Palestinian family from Gaza in Winnipeg for medical care gets help from Mennonite Central Committee, Muslim organizations

 

A Palestinian family that came to Winnipeg from Gaza to get medical care for their son is adjusting to life in Winnipeg, thanks to help from local organizations like Mennonite Central Committee, the Manitoba Islamic Association and the Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute.

The couple and their four children, who are under the age of 12, were brought to Manitoba in mid-November by the provincial government so that one of the children, a boy, can receive complex medical care.

When MCC was approached by the Manitoba government to be the lead partner in helping the family, the organization was quick to agree, said Darryl Loewen, executive director of the MCC Manitoba office.

“Welcoming and supporting this family is a small but concrete act of care and kindness in the face of an unprecedented, human-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” he said. “We’re helping one family find safety and essential medical care because we can, and because it’s what MCC tries to do by being the hands and feet of Christ.”

 

Read my story in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Photo above: Palestinian family members gather in their apartment. MCC photo by Jessica Burtnick.

Small but big-hearted church makes sure lonely residents of a local personal care home get a present at Christmas

In the Dr. Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch’s heart grew “three sizes that day” when he realized Christmas wasn’t about getting presents yourself—but about giving joy to others.

That is something members of the Church of St. Stephen and St. Bede here in Winnipeg don’t have to learn. They already know it. 

The small congregation of 20 to 25 people put their big hearts on display again at a recent service when they lined up presents at the front of the church for 24 lonely residents of the Charleswood Extendicare personal care home on Roblin Boulevard—people who, because they have no family, would otherwise not get a gift on Christmas Day.

Read my story about this small but big-hearted congregation in the Free Press.

Photo above: Phyllis Graham, Kari Hagness, Marilyn Lund, Karen Samsom, Chris Salstrom of St. Stephen and St. Bede.

Removal of religious exemption from the Canadian Criminal Code; is it such bad thing? A few thoughts to consider

The Canadian government may remove a religious exemption to the Criminal Code that says “no person shall be convicted of an offence . . . if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.” 

The government is considering doing that because they need the support of other parties to pass Bill C-9, the “Combatting Hate Act. The Bloc Québécois has indicated it is willing to support the Bill—if the religious exemption is removed. 

This move—which is not yet finalized—is being criticized by religious groups, which say it could have a chilling effect on clergy and others who fear sharing traditional teachings could be seen as hate speech. 

But philosopher Gary Gutting says that history shows that it’s a good thing when governments limit the harm religion can cause—like how states in Europe in times past passed laws against jailing and executing people because they had a different set of beliefs. 

Or, as Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, a theologian and dean at Tyndale Seminary, put it: It’s not such a bad thing when governments remind Christians and others “not to weaponize their sacred texts to incite hatred.” 

Read my latest column in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Everyone is welcome at Gordie's coffeehouse at Winnipeg's Big Red Church

It’s cold outside, but it’s warm and comfortable inside Gordie’s coffeehouse on a Thursday evening in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Glenelm. 

That’s where a full house of around 50 people is gathered to listen to folk and blues music. 

People have been coming to weekly concerts at Gordie’s since 2007, listening to local groups like the Nite Snackers, Agassiz Railroad, the Cat’s Advice and Two Crows for Comfort. There’s also an open mic for anyone who wants to perform a song or two. 

But what makes Gordie’s unique isn’t just the music — it’s the location: Gordon-King Memorial United Church. Or, as it’s known in the neighbourhood, the Big Red Church. 

Read my story about Gordie’s and the Big Red Church in the Free Press.

Faithful whistleblowers resist ICE in the U.S.

When Dan and Emily Coyne attend Sunday services at their church in Evanston, Il, they bring their Bibles — and their whistles. 

The Bibles are so they can follow along with sermons. The whistles are so they can blow them to warn their neighbors if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are in the area. 

“They’re with us all the time,” said Coyne of the whistles that he and his wife, Emily, carry with them to Reba Place Church. 

The church, which is part of Mennonite Church USA, is located in an area targeted by ICE to round up and deport undocumented people. The operation, called Midway Blitz, has resulted in the detentions of over 600 people since September. 

“The whistles are a non-violent way to resist,” said Dan, saying people blow three short blasts to warn that ICE agents are in the area and three long blasts when people see agents in the process of trying to detain someone. 

Read my column about the Coynes and how other people of faith are resisting ICE in the U.S.

Photo above: Dan and Emily Coyne outside their church.