A Christian outreach charity has insisted that church buildings need to have Christ at the centre to fulfil their true purpose, as a former Methodist church in Glasgow is set to be converted into an arts and community centre.
Patrick Methodist Church was facing demolition, but has been bought by the owners of Glasgow’s Engine Works events space.
Council planners said the building will be “rescued and reimagined” into a place for hosting weddings, fairs and art exhibitions. The plans offer a similar array of community functions to those found in a church – but lack a central ingredient: Christ.
“Community centres are valuable assets,” Kate Sharma from the Cinnamon Trust told Premier Christian News. “In one vein, ‘church’ is about a body of people. But if you take Christ out of church buildings, it’s hard to fulfil their original purpose, which is about reconciling people with Christ.”
“Churches are a resource, and all that we have is given to us by God to share with others,” she said, noting that it is better for councils to turn churches into religiously unaffiliated community spaces than lose them altogether. “But it is good to have a presence, a place where you can go to explore faith. A physical building on the high street which has a cross at the top is a beacon for the community.”
Patrick Methodist Church is not alone in its closure; the National Churches Trust estimated that as of 2025, 5% of Britain’s churches were in danger of shutting down.
The Cinnamon Trust aims to help churches discover new ways to reach their communities, such as hosting food banks, toddler groups and coffee mornings.
Sharma noted that keeping a building under Christian authority offers a vital lifeline for an increasingly lonely Britain: the opportunity for spiritual outreach.
“In a church setting, it’s so much easier to be open about our faith,” she said. “We can offer prayer and share Jesus through worship. We can invite people into community on a regular basis, rather than just a one-off event.”
As stories of quiet revival sweep the country, Sharma insists the picture is becoming brighter. Church, she says, is back on the agenda – including for some councils.
“At my home church in Kent, we are renovating our building. It’s a nineties build… at the moment it looks like a shopping centre,” she laughed.
“In the design plans, the council have actually asked us to make it look more like a church.
“It’s important to them to have somewhere that speaks to the hearts of people.”