Placemaking Mindsets

Published in Public Square, the online journal of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), this article is co-authored by Chris Elisara, the lead for the Studio of Placemaking and chairperson of the CNU Christian Caucus. It explores four overlapping areas that congregations need to simultaneously consider in order to successfully redevelop their property for the mutual benefit of the congregation and the community they are embedded in.

Published in Faith & Leadership. The number of congregations closing could rise sharply after the pandemic. The time to explore using church real estate wisely is now.

Published in Strong Towns. The writers of this piece offer one possible approach to how underused houses of worship can come together and contribute to strengthening their communities.

Published in Lewis Center for Church Leadership. More and more faith communities are asking how they might make better use of expensive and underutilized facilities. Rick Reinhard offers practical advice in the form of seven dos and don’ts to help a congregation approach property redevelopment realistically and faithfully.

Published in UM News. The real estate crisis is the church’s elephant in the room, writes Rick Reinhard. He argues individual congregations must collect and assess data to determine their future.

Published in Governing. Houses of worship own billions worth of empty, deteriorating or underused real estate. Some local governments and denominations are moving to carve it into badly needed housing, but there are plenty of obstacles.

Published in UM News. The United Methodist Church has an extensive real estate portfolio that holds significant value but also poses a financial threat.

Published in Governing. Across the country, houses of worship are shuttering by the thousands. Municipalities have a role in finding new uses for abandoned buildings that have long anchored communities and neighborhoods.

Published in ICMA. Municipalities should be proactive in working with religious leaders, developers, and the community for the future of these unique properties.

Published in Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal. Dramatically more churches will close in the US over the next decade as the numbers of self-identified Christians declines, the COVID-19 pandemic inflicts financial pain and the large number of church buildings become unwieldy. Churches that wish to survive must examine alternate uses for much of their overbuilt real estate. Congregations, developers and municipalities must be ready for how to redevelop empty church sites and how to convert existing churches to mixed use.

Published in Strong Towns, Dave Kresta discusses how we develop vibrant local economies that are good not for the shareholders of a corporation headquartered in some distant state, but for the people who actually live in the neighborhood.

Published in International Economic Development Council. Most houses of worship in the United States are in trouble, physically, financially, and administratively. The continued decline of houses of worship—especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic—will have a profound effect on our communities. Economic developers can play an important role in the reimagining and repurposing of houses of worship, but dealing with them can be tricky.

You can view the podcast here. In partnership with The Embedded Church, Ormond Center is hosting a year-long podcast season exploring the theme, the call and ecology of shalom.

The first ten episodes, that is the spring season, will kick off with the podcast’s hosts, Dr. Eric Jacobsen and Sara Joy Proppe, discussing with Ormond Center’s Dr. Josh Yates and Dr. Chris Elisara three foundational concepts: the biblical understanding of shalom and why it is so important to Christian faith and life; place and its indispensable connection to human thriving; and finally placemaking—a vital activity for Christians as God’s agents of shalom in the world.

The After Church Atlas was designed as a pilot project to create an online portal and resource for the study of church closure and transformation, supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Memorial University. The pilot phase is now complete. Based on feedback from users and partners, we are archiving this pilot version, and reconfiguring the Atlas based on feedback we've received. The new platform will use ArcGis apps and tools. We plan to relaunch the Atlas in early fall.

A project by Dr. Nicholas Lynch and Dr. Barry Stephenson, Memorial University, Canada.

This affordable housing toolkit is organized as a menu of options for action based on the resources a church might have at its disposal—money, time, partnerships, land, buildings, and the like. See the links below. Each option is accompanied by examples, with photos, descriptions, and additional links. There are also pages that provide basic information on housing markets and affordable real estate development, suggestions for advocacy, as well as a page of resources for churches that want to bring the needs of the homeless and the housing insecure into their worship services.

Author - Dr. Lee Hardy, Calvin College and CNU Members Christian Caucus