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Churches have long served as gathering places where people connect, share, and solve problems together. However, with a decline in traditional church attendance, thousands of churches across the United States are closing their doors. These empty churches are leaving a profound void in communities in a time when America faces a crisis of connection.
The National Council of Churches estimates that 100,000 churches will close in the coming years. The former president of LifeWay Christian Resources predicts that 15,000 churches will shutter in 2025 alone. It begs the question: What will happen to all these empty church buildings that were once such an integral part of life for so many Americans?
Inside rural America, regions often overlooked by philanthropy and historically underserved, we are seeing a rise in faith-based organizations responding creatively and opting to transform their spaces to meet the needs of their communities. They are quietly modeling a new civic future — one rooted in local collaboration, shared spaces, and reimagined purpose.
These often-unseen efforts hold powerful lessons for philanthropy to tap into the energy, creativity, and wisdom of people in local communities if they want to find innovative solutions to pressing social challenges. Here are three key lessons emerging from this movement:
Churches can, and should, be civic third places. In a deeply polarized nation, we need more “third places” — gathering spots outside the home and workplace where people connect, converse, and contribute to civic life. Much has been written about the country’s loneliness epidemic and how people feel atomized from one another. Places of worship, especially in rural communities, are uniquely positioned to meet this need.
Central Appalachia shows us what’s possible. From churches hosting food security programs to serving as polling sites or cultural centers, these spaces are being reclaimed as public goods. One church, for example, moved its worship services to an abandoned car dealership and donated its former downtown campus to over 30 community organizations. Another initiative installed solar panels on churches, schools, and grocery stores — projects that spark conversation about sustainability, opportunity, and stewardship.
Repurposed churches aren’t just holding community events; they’re becoming civic infrastructure for democracy.
Civic engagement requires local vision and shared decision-making. Transforming a place of worship into a community hub doesn’t begin with a complex proposal — it begins with listening. Faith leaders in Appalachia emphasize the importance of centering the voices of congregants and community members in decisions about church property. Before selling land or converting space, they ask a deeper question back to the community: What is our mission in this place, and who is it for?
Organizations like Invest Appalachia offer a model for how multisector collaboration can support this process. By blending capital and bringing together public, private, and philanthropic partners, they help ensure that community vision drives the transformation, not just financial necessity.
This kind of decision-making takes time. It requires spiritual leadership grounded in humility and partnerships rooted in place-based knowledge. But when done well, it results in spaces that reflect and serve the entire community, not just the congregation.
Civic life thrives where people feel connected. Recent research from the Appalachian Funders Network found that the 270 counties with the best economic and health outcomes share one thing in common: high levels of civic engagement. When people feel connected, they participate. And when they participate, communities thrive.
In a state like West Virginia, where nearly 80 percent of residents identify as Christian yet 25 percent never attend religious services, churches face both a challenge and an opportunity. They must grapple with declining membership while still holding cultural and spatial influence in their communities. This tension creates room for innovation.
In Mississippi, through the work of SIPP Culture, a former grocery store became a farm, food club, and commercial kitchen. In Louisville, Ky., a dwindling congregation’s church became a credit union, coffee shop, and health clinic. In North Carolina, Baptist churches are offering their buildings to refugee communities.
These stories show that when churches open their doors not just on Sunday mornings, they can become catalysts for housing, health, entrepreneurship, and democracy itself.
The path forward. The Appalachian Funders Network recently held its annual convening in Bristol, Tenn., and the energy in the room was palpable: People are ready to build a new civic future. The network is a close partner of the Trust for Civic Life, a new donor collaborative focused on supporting non-political, nonpartisan civic life across rural America — including many of the organizations highlighted above.
A recent survey of more than 500 rural community members by the trust shows that while Americans may be polarized on the national level, trust remains much stronger at the local level. Especially when bringing people together in a way that is not rooted in national politics, there is an opportunity to tap into local community creativity and energy.
The question now is how our civic institutions, including faith institutions, can adapt to this movement and leverage disruption and change to create new models of engagement. If we embrace the idea that church spaces can also be civic spaces, we may yet reweave our country’s social fabric.
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