Australia

Beyond the church: How Australia’s sacred spaces are evolving

What is church? Most people would identify stone walls, crosses, stained-glass windows, a place of worship and refuge or obligatory Sunday services.

Churches hold a long-lasting life and place in Australia’s culture, but increasing numbers of them are no longer used for their original purpose.

If Australians are not worshipping in them, they are eating in them, marrying in them, or exercising in them.

Whatever ties we have to faith, churches remain a part of Australian life and community.

Church buildings today

Religion historian and University of Sydney professor Carole Cusack, said it was in the 19th century that churches began popping up everywhere.

“Once the transportation of convicts became less and people came as free settlers to a land of opportunity, there was a massive burst of church building,” Dr Cusack said.

Fast-forward to the era of the Beatles and some started to disappear.

“There has been considerable decline in church attendance since about 1960 and a lot of churches have become redundant,” Dr Cusack said.

“They get deconsecrated. They’re made into different things.”

While the decision to buy and reinvent a church space might be a no-brainer to some, Dr Cusack said others were less sure.

o how do investors and business owners feel about occupying these spaces without putting on a Sunday service?

Cafes, studios and dance practice

When real-estate photographer Adrian Gale photographed Naracoorte’s Church of Christ he had no idea he would buy it a year later.

While in love with its natural lighting and ancient walls, something more urged his interest.

The church was built in 1906.

When the congregation outgrew the small hall, they built a kids’ ministry and supper hall on the back.

When they outgrew that, they moved.

The building has been a practice room for the town band, a Seventh Day Adventist Church and a funeral business.

As well as his photography base, Mr Gale lends the space to other community events like yoga, baby showers and wedding ceremonies — something he feels is his responsibility.

“We’re able to keep a space in the community in a whole different way.”

More ‘stewards’ than owners

It is a feeling that is also felt 50 kilometres down the road at Erica Bowen’s restaurant in Penola.

For Ms Bowen and her husband, the Methodist church they made into a home for their business had “a good feel about it”.

Like Mr Gale, she has familiarised herself with the church’s history — information that has not gone to waste.

She said the coupler were often asked about the building’s origins.

Then there are the people that know the space well, like the Irish dancers that used to practise there.

“People come with their own stories on top of what we are … which is pretty cool,” Ms Bowen said.

Mr Gale explained the opportunity as one of stewardship, not ownership.

“When a building’s 110 years old ,you don’t really own a building like that, you’re more a steward of it for the season that you own it,” Mr Gale said.

Buildings important for some congregations, not others

Even before coronavirus shifted things, many churches were gathering online — as well as meeting in gyms, shopfronts and homes.

Dave Shepherd leads Hills Baptist Verdun campus from a school gym in the Adelaide Hills.

He admitted it was not as comfortable and definitely more work.

“It requires a huge number of people to put in a huge amount of effort,” he said.

“But that builds community and a sense of authenticity and I think that’s been the great strength.”

While many have loved the unconventional space, it has not been for everyone.

“We had a couple of people who came and basically said ‘I just can’t worship in a gym’,” Mr Shepherd said.

While opting for non-traditional worshipping venues is increasingly common for certain denominations, Dr Cusack said it was unheard of for others, like the Catholic and Anglican church.

Need to go online

While places of worship may be something these denominations differ on, Mr Shepherd said the universal need for congregations to go online had been beneficial.

“Missionally it’s the best thing that has happened to the Western church in a very, very long time,” Mr Shepherd said.

Even though people are not walking through the doors of a church, Mr Shepherd said services on social media were attracting new people.

“[People] are sitting doing nothing and the [services are] popping up and they’re listening, and that’s what we’re seeing,” Mr Shepherd said.

“It’s an exciting time for the church to stand up and pivot and do something different.”