The number of Christians in Germany is falling sharply. The result: many churches are empty and no longer in use. What is happening to these places of worship?
St. Anne’s Church is almost full. The choir sings, the instruments are heard. But this is the last mass in the small Catholic church in Gildehaus, a neighborhood of Bad Bentheim near the German-Dutch border. From now on, it will no longer be the house of God. Towards the end of the service, the faithful open the altar and take out some things. These are small remains of a saint, like pieces of bone or cloth, that are always embedded in the altar of a consecrated Catholic church.
“TOUCHES THE HEART”
The Catholic Church calls this “desecration,” meaning that a once solemnly consecrated place of worship is now a profane building. And that’s it. “It breaks your heart,” pastor Hubertus Goldbeck tells DW, wiping a tear from his eye. What is affecting his small community is also affecting faithful Christians throughout Germany. Because as the Church as a whole shrinks, it must also give up its buildings.
The number of church members in Germany is falling rapidly. In 2024 alone, the country’s two major churches lost more than a million believers, some through leaving the church, some through death. Currently, about 45 percent of Germans are still members of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) or the Catholic Church. 30 years ago, this percentage was almost 69 percent.
Since 2000, hundreds of religious buildings have already been closed in both the Catholic and Evangelical churches. The German Bishops’ Conference states that between 2000 and 2024, 611 churches were closed. The Evangelical Church estimates that 300 to 350 churches were closed in the same period, although more precise figures are not available.
CHURCH BUILDINGS ON OFFER
What happens to the former churches? In some cities, especially Berlin, growing Orthodox communities have taken over some church buildings. But this is an exception. More often, churches are sold. In the capital Berlin alone, several large church buildings are currently for sale. Demolition of churches is not uncommon either.
More and more, complete reuse is also happening. In Jülich, a town between Cologne and Aachen, the former Catholic church of St. Roch now sells bicycles. Thomas Oellers moved the “Toms Bicycle Center” into the church premises.
“The parish community asked me if I could imagine running my business in the church,” he tells DW. It is the church where Oellers was baptized, where he received his first communion and often attended mass. From the outside, almost nothing has changed in this listed building. In Wettringen, north of the city of Münster, the monastery church was converted into a “football church.” There, people pray with a ball now. In Kleve, the former Evangelical Church of the Resurrection serves as a boxing arena. There are also religious buildings that have been converted into bars, libraries, bookstores…
Entire monasteries are being converted into hotel complexes – as in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth. But they still retained the old name “Mutterhaus” (Headquarters of the order or mother monastery). In this era of housing crisis, architects are increasingly converting churches into residential buildings – in Berlin, Rostock, Trier, Cologne or Wuppertal. One of the largest previous projects is the “Lukas-K-Haus” in Essen. The Evangelical Church of St. Luke, built in 1961, was converted into a residential area. On the ground floor in the hallway, two plaques now hang one above the other: “Foundation Stone 1959” and “Foundation Stone 2012”. While the differently colored windows clearly recall the stained glass windows of the church.
Alexandra Schröder has lived in the old church since its renovation. It was essential for her family back then to find an apartment with more rooms and good schools nearby. One floor below is a physiotherapy clinic. The owner, Jessica Günther, says she came across this space completely by chance. “It’s a nice and peaceful feeling to work here.” She knows that the stairs in her practice used to lead to the altar and knows exactly where the altar was. But she doesn’t attach any special importance to it. A patient, on the other hand, thinks it’s a very good place. Faith also means “helping people who need help,” Stefan Hebenstreit told DW.
If the building is no longer a church, then its use as a kindergarten or physiotherapy is “practically” still connected to it. Hebenstreit, a devout and practicing religious man who has suffered several strokes, speaks slowly and thoughtfully.
BELL
To hear anything critical, you have to find people who have lived in the area around the former Lukaskirche Cathedral for decades. One resident misses the occasional peal of bells. Another complains that the clocks in the tower – which still stand – no longer tell the correct time. Two large churches had to hire commissions and have documents on the issue of their conversion. Experts and scientists are dealing with this. However, it is often a question of the neighborhood, or of the people who want to live there. Using the example of a large church in Berlin, art historian Klaus-Martin Bresgott from the Cultural Office of the Evangelical Church and a group of architecture students investigated how important a church space can be for a community and a settlement.
The Evangelical Church in Berlin no longer needs the Stephanuskirche in the Wedding district. In fact, the building, built between 1902 and 1904, has always been very large. But at that time, monumental construction was carried out and the emperor himself came to the opening. Now the church in the so-called Soldiner Kiez, a problematic neighborhood, has been closed for a long time. It is so dilapidated that you can’t even enter for a short time without a protective helmet.
Bresgott and his students didn’t look at the building first, but at the people, analyzing what was missing in their neighborhood. They found that there was a lack of public space, places to gather, sports, culture, and space for social and community activities. “There have always been times when churches were more or less important,” says Bresgott. “We know that during the Napoleonic Wars, churches were used as stables for decades. But they stayed.” For him, the Stephanuskirche is a perfect example of how a large church can still serve society. “We don’t have to panic right away and say, ‘Let’s give up, let’s close it forever!'” (DW)