Developer Ken Weinstein preserved the former St. Michael’ s Evangelical Lutheran Church for mission-aligned re-use( left). A martial arts class takes place inside the former St. Michael’ s sanctuary( above). Daniel Kontz
Sacred Space and Economic Change Communities of all kinds act as complex dynamic ecologies— shaping and being shaped by the interaction of social, cultural, and economic trends. Congregations are not isolated nor immune to this interaction but are active agents within them. A major driver of change on the Germantown Avenue corridor is economic development, which has had, and continues to have, an impact on sacred places and vice versa.
Around Al-Aqsa, new housing development has replaced deteriorating buildings. The neighborhood would be unrecognizable were it not for the attractive and recently restored mosque and school at the center. Coming up the Avenue, several independent storefront churches were leveled to make room for new apartments, though some, like Father’ s House of Prayer and St. John Memorial Church in Fair Hill, continue to have an active ministry with their new neighbors.
Oftentimes, developers take care in preserving the historic sacred places that have provided an aesthetic presence for generations. Ken Weinstein, a local developer focused on Germantown Avenue, has respected the beauty of historic St. Michael’ s Lutheran Church, which had an active congregation from 1737 until 2016. After he acquired the church, he carefully restored it and repurposed it as a pediatrician’ s office and a fitness center, extensions of the church’ s mission. Likewise, Weinstein acquired Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church in 2018 after a declining congregation was no longer able to maintain the large granite structures. After selling the property, the congregation worshipped for a time in the old sanctuary, later moving to a shared space with another church. Their beloved old building, however, has been restored: the education building now houses condominiums and the sanctuary is home to a theater company. But the Gothic architecture remains.
14 SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2026