With so many churches around the world, it stands to reason that some will end up unused from time to time. But there's no reason to call in the demo crew. There are a lot of good ways to repurpose the House of God.
The Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh pays special homage to the former occupant of its location with a beer called Pious Monk.
Image credit: City-Data
Kids were actually encouraged to run and scream in the church after the South Williamsport (PA) Methodist Church was converted into an indoor maze of playgrounds , slides, climbing walls and video games.
It takes a good deal of remodeling to turn Godâs home into your own, but it can be done. The web is packed with examples of beautiful residences, like this $2.3 million example in Denver, that are barely recognizable as former houses of worship - at least until you take notice of the steepled roof or the very church-like shape of the windows and doors.
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Itâs probably a safe bet that youâll be able to find at least a few copies of the Bible at the Bookstore Selexyz Dominicanen in the Netherlands.
Image credit: Rensselaer/Daria Robbins
The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, makes a convenient setting for all those hungover morning conversations with God promising to ânever drink that much again.â
Image credit: TEDx Vasastan
Stockholmâs Entreprenörskyrkan, housed in a former Greek Orthodox Church, offers its own kind of heaven to small business startups: A fully furnished open-office environment that seeks "to have fun and play with ideas."
The Williams Grove amusement park in Harrisburg, PA, converted a charming, antiquated old church into a venue for modern sci-fi violence.
One of the ideas behind artist Matt Hendersonâs alien nativity scene at a former church in Portland was to help people recognize "the terrestrial nature of Christ.â
Image credit: Smyrna-Vinings Patch
The empty Collins Spring Primitive Baptist Church in Atlanta needed someone to save it from the vandals and the wrecking ball. In stepped the Atlanta Freethought Society - an organization of atheists that uses the building as part of its mission to âprovide a community for non-theists in the Metro Atlanta area through educational, advocacy and social activities.â
If you ever make it to the South River Vineyard in Shalersville, OH, please refrain from asking them if their production process includes turning water into wine. Iâm sure they already get that 100 times a day.
Image credit: MATTKINGTHESKATER /Panoramio
Skaterham is an indoor skatepark that has been operating for more than a decade out of an abandoned church in Surrey, England.
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