Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade.
Many churches will be unable to escape this “tsunami” of closings — a grim trajectory one pastor described as, “Every year the pews are getting emptier and the collection plates getting lighter.”
Hope my state legalizes weed cafes so we can get a 3rd place worth going to.
Would be a lot nicer than a church.
Good, the majority of churches have changed from social gatherings to political rallies, especially in smaller communities. Rural America is going to die out with the baby boomers and they have no one to blame but themselves for constantly electing these old assholes.
I wish there were something like community centers to replace the void they’ll leave behind. As a kid we had rec centers with game rooms and courts and stuff. I remember getting a computer lab and thinking it was the coolest thing.
Obviously not the exact same anymore but something similar. I do believe people are becoming lonelier and isolated because of the pandemic and the rise of social media.
They didn’t follow their own texts (apparently this Jesús guy is too liberal). Were too selfish and cowardice to call out their own for literal monstrous acts. Judged and played god for political gains. Protected the powerful at the expense of the weak. All while crying victimhood and intentionally trying to bring about armageddon.
Action meet consequence. No one wants to be in a canabalistic death cult except fascists and they aren’t going to give you money. They are going to rob you.
I would say “good”, but I’m sure this will somehow not affect megachurches
Yea this was my first thought.
Anecdotally, in my area (rural, 25ish miles from a mid city) many of the old-school but liberal-ish protestant denominations seem to be withering… Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist etc.
The storefront Baptists are doing just okay, and the metal-shed-building mega or wannabe mega are booming. New Life etc
This is not a particularly great trend imo.
The ongoing schism in the Episcopal church, also not great.
It’ll probably increase attendance at (and payments to) the megachurches as the smaller community churches close and people who can’t face life without a church look for a new place to go.
I keep thinking about all that property and buildings already there and people being hungry for third spaces and how I could start some kind of movement that was like open source for software but something for third spaces and done as non-profit.
Something that could host things like makerspaces, quilting groups, book exchanges, swap meets, reading clubs, game day/nights, still rent out for meetups and even weddings/wakes, things like that.
Seems to me that people are dying for third spaces that don’t involve having to cough up money just to be somewhere that is not home, school, or work.
And many people don’t want to be involved in a church per se.
I mean, churches already can do this.
Instead of being the boring place you have to go on Sunday, they’d do what you’re talking about.
Who wants fellowship in the most uncomfortable setting there is?
Cool it with all the pious bullshit, unpucker ye olde asshole and maybe some people might drop in. I cannot think of a more obsolete entity than the current church. Boring, stodgy, judgy, unpleasant. Big fucking surprise nobody is interested.
I think it’d be incredibly hard to have them revamp things from the inside. Suppose a pastor/minister/preacher wants to do something like that and subtract the “branding” of churches being really boring, stodgy, and often problematic (pedos)? Might be really tough to pull that off, and they’d still be a church in the end. I think most people would still nope out.
I’m thinking of using the same locations and turning them into some kind of super community center. Maybe even combine it with low-cost daycare and being a nexus of after-school activities. It’s mostly just a pipe dream, but honestly, I think the right kind of effort/people doing this could have this sweep the nation, under some kind of commonly-recognized naming/branding.
Especially after social media, Covid lockups, AI psychosis, etc…I really do think people of all ages have a real thirst for a physical third place where everyone could find their thing and just be in meatspace with others.
I always see Meetups that lose their location due a business closing or moving or no longer having an employee from the Meetup working there, etc. This could be another way something like this could fill the gap - offer that space for rent at deep discounts such that Meetups could afford it. Add in things like food drives and pantries and bingo nights, etc… to round out the calendar so there is always something to do, and it won’t seem to be some anemic thing of the past.
Reverend Richard Coles seems like the kind of guy to actually do this but I only know him from panel shows with rude jokes.
uplifting news!
Finally, some good news in the US.
It won’t be the churches that most need to close. The quiet little church that feeds the local homeless people will close while the Trumpist evangelical megachurches with the hate-spreading, abusive, grifter pastors will be fine.
The mega churches are pretty famous for “stealing sheep.” They’re a bit like country clubs were but for poorer folks. They’ve got facilities and sports clubs and daycare, but offer a degree of
segregationseparation from the general population.Be that as it may, I absolutely do not view religion (Christianity or any other faith, abrahamic or otherwise) as a positive influence on this country or the world in general.
If we’re just talking about the US and Christianity (such as it is) here: the fact that so many people have been so easily and readily swept into the ideological sphere of evangelicalism and Christian Dominionism is one of the primary cancers that is destroying the social and political fabric of this place. I’m talking about not just about mega churches, but small town evangelical preachers who’ve gone round the bend and are now full theoated Nationalist Christians, with all that that entails these days (my uncle turned into one of those a while back - we are not on speaking terms). The fact that “normal” Christians appear to be perfectly content to cede ideological control and leadership to a dizzying combination of white nationalists, end-times enthusiasts, tech-magnate neo-feudalists, and profit-gospel MLM scam artists is just… well, there’s a whole fucking section in the Bible about how all of that is a bad idea, but nobody in the cult is reading that, and no “normal” Christians seem to have made much headway at all in getting those people to understand what the religion is supposedly intended to be about.
Very well stated, and matches the resounding feelings quite well.
I can’t speak to 100% accuracy of this interpretation but I find this article on what Jesus said about churches interesting. https://www.christianwebsite.com/what-did-jesus-say-about-church/
The fact that “normal” Christians appear to be perfectly content to cede ideological control and leadership to a dizzying combination of white nationalists, end-times enthusiasts, tech-magnate neo-feudalists, and profit-gospel MLM scam artists is just…
What makes you feel they’re happy?
Repeal churches tax exempt status and most of those megachurches will implode practically overnight. Remove their ability to effectively grift and most of them will move on to a more profitable scam and the ones that are left will be far less dangerous with less money to throw around for bribes.
To quote Frank Zappa: “Tax the churches. Tax the businesses owned by the churches.”
And then, for the ones that do actual charity work, have them run the charity separately from the church, under the same rules as secular charities, with regards to taxes and reporting.
Scamming too much out of communities on the weekdays to keep bringing in that sweet weekend scam money too.
Churches should pay taxes like the rest of us.
Let’s start with billionaires. Then work our way down.
Churches are literally billionaires hiding behind Jesus
Por qué no los dos?
Because as it is we can’t even do one.
I figure let’s tackle billionaires to gain some momentum.
No kidding. Where I live in the Midwest that isn’t particularly religious, most churches have like an insane amount of labs they’re not using. Tax them to the ground.
Good point. The maker’s spaces that take these places over should join some tax advantaged organization before going in and fixing them up.
Turn them into homeless shelters or community centers so they can actually help the people!!!
Hell yeah
I want to buy up a megachurch and turn it into a to something that serves everything the Victorian bullshitters despised.
Over here, an abortion clinic. And here we have the needle exchange. On the east end there’s a gay bar and sex dungeon in the basement. (We didn’t really have to make a lot of changes to the basement.) second floor is a children’s library (it was important we placed that one as far away from the basement as possible since….well, trauma from the previous tenants). Psychotherapy is offered on the weekends. In the annex we have a furry menagerie and then the grey room.
In the field out back we have a solar array and charging stations in the parking lot. We also added a bus stop here so those without cars can still come in for low-income food assistance on sundays.
What’s the grey room? Oh it the most sinister room of all. All the complaints we receive from Christians are fed into a paper shredder. Their phone calls also just go to a speakerphone in that room. Nobody mans the grey room. It’s where Christians BS gets ignored entirely.
