Golf Country Club

Fitness Club

Athletic Teams

Barbershops

Bar/Nightclubs

Neighborhood Community Associations

Ethnic Affinity Groups (Irish, Italian, African American etc).

Fraternity/Sorority Graduates

Not-For-Profits

College Alumni Groups

“Lifestyle” Clubs/Groups

Meetup Groups

A place where people meet, connect and form bonds based on shared values.

32 comments

  2. This assumes the church has been replaced…which in most cities won’t be accurate. You have all those places *in addition to* churches for people who are religious. 

  3. What role does the church play as a social institution that needs to be replaced?

    Serious question because I’m not Christian and I left the religion I was raised in (Judaism) because I felt like it didn’t play any beneficial role in my life.

  4. None. Somebody asked this question a couple days ago, is there some social media trend or documentary going around?

    I know very few people under the age of 50 who attend church. Few of them seek out a “replacement“. They’re just not interested in organized religion. It doesn’t insist that they need some other form of gathering.

  5. We have two churches, the First Church for Protestants and the Catholic Church, I think together they haven’t been replaced, although the First Church seems more community oriented than the Catholic Church. There’s also the senior center for older people, my grandfather doesn’t go to church and goes there instead, or to a cafe in town.

  6. In my town, there are 20 churches and about 4000 people… I don’t think it’s been replaced.

  10. DC has a surprisingly vigorous religious life still. But for others it’s work or politics.

  11. It’s Texas there are still churches everywhere and for many they are absolutely the center of their social lives

    Of the people not going there is no one clear thing popping in. Some folks have found this or that and many just don’t have anything in that kind of role.

  12. None. Where I live the churches are not being replaced, in fact there are about 30 Christian churches in the area, they are always looking to add on or build more and god help you if you even suggest replacing one with a bar or nightclub, that would not go over well around here. I honestly didn’t know that was a thing.

  13. I don’t know why anyone would ever want a church to be replaced with the value they add spiritually for those who believe, and the value they add for schools through community partnerships.

  14. Bold of you to assume it isn’t the church.

    But secondarily, school stuff with kids and sports leagues are the atheist/agnostic church around here. I mean I went to church this morning but then drove an hour each way for basketball and since they won I have another 30 minute drive for the finals and then 30 minutes home.

    Doing God’s work.

  15. For young families in our neighborhood, it’s probably the elementary school, and those relationships typically continue through high school graduation, particularly if one or more of the children pursues sports. (Competitive swimming is huge in my neighborhood.) For older people, it’s more difficult, but there is a very active women’s group in the area. My MIL was a member of PEO, which was the center of her social life for many years. For my parents, it was moving into a 55 & up community centered on a golf course, which was a veritable whirlwind of activity. They had a huge circle of friends when they lived there. And there are still churches in my area, including an enormous Catholic church that many of my neighbors attend.

  17. Honestly, I have noticed a lot of people are using their careers/work as the third place. Maybe it’s just my company (that I am trying to leave now haha) but a lot of people are very close and have personal conversations with each other about life, their beliefs, etc. I do not really partake in any of this because I think it is inappropriate for the workplace.

    I think for a lot of younger professionals work is really all they have and it’s where they build core relationships, even though it wasn’t designed that way. Their worth is in how successful they are in careers which IMO is often more damaging than helpful.

  19. We have churches and all those things. Nothing is replacing anything. Having said that, I don’t go to any of them because I don’t need ‘a third space’.

  20. I keep seeing stuff on here like this. It feels like artificial posts with an agenda.

    It’s weird. Stop being weird.

  21. We had the opposite thing happen, for some reason most of our movie theaters were converted into Churches.

    Eta- upon reading other responses, I think I took this too literal but I’m gonna leave it anyway .

  22. there are methodist, baptist and pentecostal churches all within the 3 miles of our unincorporated township, all are packed full every sunday and throughout the week for afternoon services or bible studies. jesus ain’t going anywhere anytime soon in rural america, im 20 and know more people my age that are fairly or devoutly religious then you’d think.

  23. Brunch if anything but that’s usually just people after church or weddings anyaay

  25. Rejecting institutions as a whole is a major factor in why people leave the Church. Assuming it needs replacement is the kind of misunderstanding that prevents you from properly understanding the causes of people leaving (or never embracing it to begin with.)

  26. I do go to church (Unitarian Universalist), but I devote just as much time and money if not more to Warhammer, and that fills essentially the same social role while also letting me play with plastic figures.

  29. The church was never the institution anywhere I lived. And I grew up in Louisiana.

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