COMMENTARY: Closing doors but not closing down

(RNS) The closing of church doors is under way — long overdue in some cases, a shock in others. Before it goes a step further, however, it is imperative that church leaders be clear about what they are doing: they are closing a building, not a congregation. They are bowing to the unaffordable costs of […]

(RNS) The closing of church doors is under way — long overdue in some cases, a shock in others.

Before it goes a step further, however, it is imperative that church leaders be clear about what they are doing: they are closing a building, not a congregation.

They are bowing to the unaffordable costs of maintaining bricks and mortar, but they aren’t terminating a faith community.


In closing a physical facility, leaders shouldn’t disband a congregation and send its people out to find other buildings. That is precisely the wrong message to take from these transitions.

Instead, the congregation’s leaders should find new ways to exist as a faith community, new venues in which to gather, new ways to nurture community, new ways to worship and new avenues for learning and engaging in mission.

If their bonds meant anything deeper than temporarily sharing a street corner, then closing the doors is merely a painful disruption that they must work to overcome.

Their clergy were more than building managers. The need for clergy leadership hasn’t evaporated; it has increased. Clergy are pastors of flocks, not patrons of buildings, and the flock must still be gathered, tended, fed, nurtured and sent out to serve.

Yes, it’s true, many congregations have had no purpose greater than maintaining a building. For them, the loss of a building will mean more than the loss of a convenient place to gather. It will mean the loss of identity and mission. They weren’t giving to God’s work, but to a maintenance budget. Without the building, they have nothing. In those cases, the burial rite should be said not only over a facility, but over a living organism that was allowed to die long ago.

Many congregations, on the other hand, will find relief in being liberated from the overhead of an old and expensive facility. They will have energy and funds that until now had been hijacked by maintenance worries and utility bills. In my opinion, their best days could lie ahead.


Those congregations — if well-led, if allowed to think beyond bricks and mortar — will find new vitality. As they meet in members’ homes or in rented space, the faithful will understand how much they mean to each other. As they study the faith, they will stop noticing the makeshift classroom. As they share food, they will discover holy sustenance that doesn’t depend on a particular altar rail. As they coordinate schedules, they will meet at times other than Sunday, and they will be freed to make fresh choices about what matters.

Closing doors and going “on the road” can be an exciting and empowering time for a faith community. To surround it with the sad sound of a death knell is a tragic misreading of what God has wanted all along. We are descended from nomads and worship a Lord who had no place to lay his head.

Some congregations will want to get ahead of this curve. They will want to think about door-closing now, while they still have a substantial flock, and not wait until the cost-cutting required to sustain a building — laying off clergy, eviscerating programs, cutting back on mission, stopping growth efforts — have driven away all but a handful.

When the building owns the enterprise, only the death of the faith community lies ahead, and it will be well-deserved. When faith and mission drive the bus, it doesn’t matter where the bus is parked.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @tomehrich.)

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