On my way to church, I pass at least four church buildings that no longer have congregations meeting in them. One is now a local newspaper, two are office buildings, and one a theater company. Each of these buildings has been re-purposed. The churches that met in them no longer exist or have moved on to larger facilities. If church growth was the reason and not church death, it makes it easier to stomach. But I suppose that death was the reason. On the other side of the coin, I sat in a church building in Erie, CO that was once a garage, a machine shop, and a dance hall. I talked to another church planter who is meeting in an old warehouse in uptown Denver, while many schools, community centers, and storefronts are the locations for church services each week.

It is mildly ironic that church buildings are used for lofts, offices, and businesses, while churches are are meeting in non-traditional places. The building is not the church. The people are the church. For the first 300 years of Christianity there were no congregation owned buildings, but exponential growth still occurred. I believe that God can use this time of repurposing to bring days of exponential growth again. May God build His church and may His kingdom come.