Summary
Churches across the U.S. are grappling with dwindling attendance and financial instability, forcing many to close or sell properties.
The Diocese of Buffalo has shut down 100 parishes since the 2000s and plans to close 70 more. Nationwide, church membership has dropped from 80% in the 1940s to 45% today.
Some churches repurpose their land to survive, like Atlanta’s First United Methodist Church, which is building affordable housing.
Others, like Calcium Church in New York, make cutbacks to stay open. Leaders warn of the long-term risks of declining community and support for churches.
Yes. Schools and libraries.
We need more than that. We need places where people go regularly and choose to interact with each other. Church sucks, but seeing your neighbors, engaging in community activities like celebrating births and marriages and holidays and just regularly seeing each other and being reminded of your connections to each other are important. People talk about modern isolation and by giving up community activities and spaces that’s what we get.
The fact that churches have captured the commemoration of major life events is part of the problem. Those things shouldn’t have ever been attached to a particular religion or religious denomination, those should be common to the whole community (though some sub-communities might also offer bonus commemorations such as quinceañeras).
I have seen birthday parties in the reservable spaces of libraries. Sounds perfect. Just need to expand that style of library to more places.
Neither my local library nor school has a weekly get together where we all hang out and talk.
Also, uh, not everyone has kids. Do they not deserve community?
My local library has weekly reading days, crochet club, adult focused book clubs, and regular events.
But the thing is that people in the community helped start those things. If your library doesn’t have any you should probably talk to them about starting something. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to be involved and increase the amount of people that visit!
Bullshit. Libraries have book & game clubs. They host speakers, authors, and musicians. They offer short classes in typing, office software, graphics software. All of it is free of charge. You could easily spend 4-5 nights a week hanging out at a library chatting of you wanted.
Yeah they don’t all do that. I was suggesting we expand the usage of libraries and schools to be the community center everywhere, because it has proven to work in many places. And it can do more.
Yeah, sadly, I remember growing up in an extremely rural area and the “library” there was literally one room, almost nothing in the way of content, no activities, and not even inter-library loan. Thankfully, my mother worked in the next county over, so we’d use that library system.
When I contrast that library with the Jefferson County Library and Denver County Library in Colorado…it’s breathtaking. Those two library systems are quite awesome! But I know there is quite a range of offerings that are called “libraries” in this country, depending on the tax base and/or population.
My little library that serves the 1200 people spread out over seven villages in my county doesn’t have any of that.
Do you think I’m lying? Or am I just too stupid to know what the little library connected to the elementary school offers?
I doubt you are lying; I’ve seen very tiny libraries in my day, including the one that was nearest to me growing up…
Perhaps you could meet the pleople who work in the library and try to organize something with them? Community gatherings need a push to start happening and people willing to organize them. If you miss these oportunities, create them, it’s not that hard and it’s very rewarding.
Wow congrats! And did you know not all churches are seen as community centers? You’re arguing against one persons anecdote with your own.
I mean, I’m trans and some kind of bi/pan, it’s not a community for people like me anyway. I can still recognize that it exists though?
The school was about what you said feeding kids. And yes, a lot of libraries have reservable meeting space now. More should for exactly the reason you are saying. I am agreeing with you about needing to fill the void, and saying we should expand schools and libraries to better and more consistently do that. Currently they probably only do that in blue states.
It sounded like you were telling me that there wasn’t a problem, because schools and libraries exist.
Schools and libraries aren’t filling the void. They can, if we make them, but it’s not automatic.
Yeah, my bad. They do in some places, and I want them to do so in more. I also would like to reduce thier dependence on local government for funding.
Libraries actually almost always have multiple events a week. You may want to check your local branch out. Also, you’re describing a very extroverted interest.