IO9 had a post focused on images of church buildings which have been repurposed for secular use. I will share some select examples below, but click through for many more.
Churches can react to this with fear, or treat them as inspiration. In some instances, it might make more sense to the life of Christian communities to cease to have their meeting places designed for sitting facing one direction to be spoken at, and reenvisaged as pubs, restaurants, play areas, and social space where families can come to learn and fellowship, for use in these ways as part of the life and outreach of the Christian communities themselves. But if Christian communities do not take the initiative to reinvent meeting spaces, others may do so for them, when their communities eventually are forced to sell the buildings.
As I have mentioned before, I have a strong recollection of going to the Beamish open air museum in England, and visiting homes, a store, and many aspects of a village as it would have been in centuries past – and a church which was also unchanged, but could well have been in current use in precisely the same form. It is not a given, or should not be, that church meeting spaces and activities remain static down the centuries.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In