Social Forces Shaping Church Closing Trends

Abstract

Abstract We must have a comprehensive grasp of urban church closings before embarking on repurposing interventions, as illustrated in the previous chapter. We need an in-depth knowledge foundation and concrete examples of these special buildings because of their complexities and symbolism in society. Capturing the extent of destruction of a moving tornado is certainly challenging, but that is what this book is trying to achieve. Grasping this urban environmental movement cannot be done in isolation from other ecological facets of the topic operative within and outside the United States, or from just a Snapchat moment in time. This chapter offers a multifaceted view of church closure trends and the major social forces shaping them, highlighting its broad national reach and implications for congregations and their communities. Church closures reshape major segments of the religious community and cities in the process. They leave remnants of a bygone era when religion reigned supreme and its buildings served as testimony of their power and influence locally and nationally, as in the case of the civil rights movement, for instance.