What I saw helped me develop a model approach that would encourage congregations to start thinking creatively about the use of their buildings , whether or not they are planning to stay . One key principle : if you , as a congregation , are planning to sell it , please talk to the people in the town before you just put a real estate sign in the front yard .
BJ : But is anybody thinking about the larger response we should be making to the losses and transitions of older sacred places ? Philanthropies , county planners , denomination offices , and so on ? This problem will grow unless we find creative ways to work with these congregations or ease the transition in a responsible way . Is anybody thinking like that ?
TF : No . Not in a national way , and not in the various Christian denominations . The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has been overwhelmed , closing multiple parishes in several cities across the region . The planners , the successive mayors of North Adams have really wrestled with it . They ' ve tried everything they can think of to attract someone who will use the buildings in a creative way .
The United Methodist church in North Adams was insured for seven figures but sold for $ 125,000 . A congregation like that one would be better positioned if it knew what ’ s involved in selling a building or adapting it to something else .
View of North Adams , Massachusetts showing the remaining steeples . All article photos courtesy of Thomas E . Frank
BJ : A smaller congregation doesn ’ t necessarily have to close some day . But it does need to manage things differently , including the building . But given constrained resources and capacity , how can we help these congregations remain healthy ?
TF : I write in the book about the sense of place , which has the power to capture people emotionally . What makes us as a congregation so attached to this place ? And not only the building , but its place within a neighborhood or on a street ?
And how does it connect to the character of the town or neighborhood ? The church is a public place that ’ s privately owned but serves a public function . And to me , the shift that has to take place is to view our buildings as facing the public .
In North Adams , the steeples are 160 feet high . They ’ re right there — an unmistakable presence on the street and an essential element in North
Adams ’ sense of place . So the question is , how do you parlay that publicfacing character into new ways of interacting with the community , and opening up your facility ?
There are two ways to start . One is to get people studying the issue and looking at possible ways of addressing the issues you face . Another way is to undertake a pilot program , like the Haywood Street Congregation in Asheville , North Carolina . They ’ ve gathered a congregation of people
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