In 50 years, the historic churches that survive this downturn will own something priceless. Most of these beautiful urban churches were built in the late 19th/early 20th century and there is no replacing that history. A huge swath of them were cut down in the 1950-70s by suburbanization, urban decay, and church decline. Another swath is about to come down with the great de-churching and the death of the boomers. The best Catholic cathedrals will survive because the bishop will consolidate other parishes into it, but many of the Protestant ones will close. I expect you'll see a similar consolidation process among the liberal mainline churches (e.g. in our city the Lutherans just closed their big church and moved in with the Episcopalians, and I'm sure in 20 years the two UCC churches will do the same), but the churches with a traditional theology and architecture will have a monopoly on a heritage which will only become rarer and more valuable as the years go on.
In Baltimore where I lived for 14 years there were a number of church closed due to the congregations both dying off and moving out of the city. Some of them were torn down, if no one was interested in the buildings as-is. A few were repurposed as churches for immigrant groups, e.g., a former Lutheran church became an Ethiopian Coptic church. And some became home to secular businesses-- a Catholic church that became a gym, another that became a brew pub (called "The Ministry of Brewing"), and an Episcopalian church that became a nightclub.
In 50 years, the historic churches that survive this downturn will own something priceless. Most of these beautiful urban churches were built in the late 19th/early 20th century and there is no replacing that history. A huge swath of them were cut down in the 1950-70s by suburbanization, urban decay, and church decline. Another swath is about to come down with the great de-churching and the death of the boomers. The best Catholic cathedrals will survive because the bishop will consolidate other parishes into it, but many of the Protestant ones will close. I expect you'll see a similar consolidation process among the liberal mainline churches (e.g. in our city the Lutherans just closed their big church and moved in with the Episcopalians, and I'm sure in 20 years the two UCC churches will do the same), but the churches with a traditional theology and architecture will have a monopoly on a heritage which will only become rarer and more valuable as the years go on.
In Baltimore where I lived for 14 years there were a number of church closed due to the congregations both dying off and moving out of the city. Some of them were torn down, if no one was interested in the buildings as-is. A few were repurposed as churches for immigrant groups, e.g., a former Lutheran church became an Ethiopian Coptic church. And some became home to secular businesses-- a Catholic church that became a gym, another that became a brew pub (called "The Ministry of Brewing"), and an Episcopalian church that became a nightclub.
A lot of these older buildings need millions in repairs that will be impossible to raise by all but the most wealthy congregations.