Churches, while seemingly insignificant in the minds of many in our increasingly secular world, matter. It reminds me of a story that was often told by the late Peter Marshall. The “Keeper of the Springs”.

On a recent episode of WBUR’s On Point, host Meghna Chakrabarti devoted an episode to what is lost when a church closes. And make no mistake, churches close. She reported that an estimated 15,000 churches in the U.S. are likely to close in the next few years.

So, what’s lost when a place of worship closes?  

More than most imagine.

She rightly noted that churches are more than places of worship. They are community centers, shelters and food banks. They respond to disasters in their community, whether fire or tornado, flooding or hurricane, with resources and volunteers and shelter. When violence or tragedy strikes, they are often the gathering places to weep and mourn. They are where people battling any number of addictions gather for support groups. They provide a social safety net that often goes unseen, unheralded.

Within themselves, they provide community and relationship, support for marriage and family, programs for children and youth, and opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. They combat loneliness and offer support during times of grief.

And about the supposed “lost” property taxes that churches are often critiqued for? Studies have found that religious institutions generate trillions of dollars for the U.S. economy every year. The economic impact of churches alone is somewhere between $1.2 trillion and $4.8 trillion. At the time of the study, in 2016, this was more than the annual revenues of the top 10 tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Google combined. Another study found that real property values decrease as the distance from a neighborhood church increases.

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