CCP148: On When a Church Closes

Apr 25, 2025

The podcast discusses a troubling trend of church closures across the U.S., revealing that fewer Americans are attending church compared to the 1940s. Despite this, 94% of pastors remain hopeful about their congregation's future. The emotional impact of closures on congregants is profound, as they grapple with loss and cherished memories. It also highlights the community ramifications, showcasing how closed churches often provided essential services. The conversation delves into the need for innovative outreach to adapt to changing demographics.

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INSIGHT

Church Decline Vs Pastor Optimism

The U.S. faces a rapid decline in church attendance and many closures despite pastors' optimism.
About 100,000 churches might close by 2050, yet 94% of pastors believe their church will last 10 years.

INSIGHT

Why Churches Close

Churches often close due to necessity, primarily financial strains and failure to adapt to demographic changes.
Refusing to reach new community demographics is sometimes a contributing factor reflecting a lack of mission focus.

ANECDOTE

Witnessing a Church Closure

James Emery White shared attending the closing service of a struggling church.
Despite good efforts, low attendance forced the church to end public services and continue only as a small home group.

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In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent Lifeway Research study which found that despite some disturbing trends in the number of church closures across the United States, 94% of pastors believe their church will still be open in 10 years. Whereas in the 1940s nearly 85% of Americans claimed they belonged to a church, now that number is less than 50%. So what happens to these churches when they close? And what is the outcome for pastors as well as those who considered it their church home?

Episode Links

As Alexis mentioned at the top of the podcast, the decline in Christianity in America has been touched on in more than a handful of past episodes. If you've missed these conversations and would like to go back and listen to them, they include: CCP135: On Women Leaving the Church, CCP105: On Cultural Caricatures of the Christian Faith, CCP100: On Unchristian Christians, CCP94: On the Growing Lack of Confidence in Clergy, CCP32: On a Non-Christian America, and CCP15: On Denominational Decline.

If you are interested in looking at more of the data related to the number of church closings forecasted in the U.S. mentioned in today's conversation, as well as what's being done with houses of worship that have already closed, we'd encourage you to check out these two articles:

Yonat Shimron, “Study: More churches closing than opening,” Religion News Service

Mark Dent, “Can God fix America's housing crisis?" The Hustle

They also discussed how when churches close, it can leave a huge void in the wider community being served by the church. Dr. White mentioned a current case gaining attention where Christian pop artist Amy Grant is fighting to save a church that was founded by her grandfather from a local businessman. You can read more about that in the article by Cameron McWhirter in The Wall Street Journal HERE.

Finally, Dr. White very poignantly ended today's episode by reading a blog that is published annually at Church & Culture. It's titled “The Monday After Easter,” and is a blog written specifically to pastors who may be struggling with an underwhelming turnout on Easter Sunday despite all of their prayer, faith and efforts. If you'd like to read that blog, you can find it HERE.

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