3,500 churches have closed over the last decade. But is this a problem or a path forward?

As historic church buildings are repurposed into gyms, cafes and even mosques, many are fearing the decline of Christianity in Britain. But others say it could be an opportunity to refocus the Church’s mission

More than 3,500 churches of various denominations have shut in the last decade, according to the National Churches Trust (NCT). 

When the Daily Mail reported this story, their article was accompanied by images depicting the new identities these buildings have assumed. Where prayers were once shared in pews, there are now pools, pint glasses and pilates.

At the Chapel Nightclub – once a 19th-century Pentecostal church in Salisbury, Wiltshire – a DJ booth now occupies the space the altar once did. In Bournemouth, Sanctum nightclub inhabits what was once St Andrew’s United Reformed Church. Elsewhere, former churches have been converted into…