ISTANBUL

The US could face a potential closure of 15,000 churches this year, vastly outnumbering the few thousand expected to open, Axios reported on Friday.

Over the next decade, the sharp decline in churches is expected to continue, potentially leaving communities, particularly rural ones, without essential services such as food aid, childcare, and disaster relief that these institutions have traditionally provided.

The drop in traditional churches comes as a record 29% of Americans identify as religiously unaffiliated, and the share of Christians falls to 62% from 78% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

At the same time, largely non-denominational megachurches and evangelical Christianity are growing in influence, driven by charismatic leaders, supportive politicians, and social media.

This shift has created tension between the decline of local church communities and rising calls from conservative groups and officials to expand religion’s role in public schools and institutions.

The record number of church closures projected this year reflects broader challenges, including difficulty retaining full-time pastors.

The National Council of Churches warned that as many as 100,000 US churches, about a quarter of the nation’s total, could close in the coming years, with another 15,000 shifting to part-time pastoral leadership.

This decline also leaves many communities with empty, hard-to-sell church buildings, while Catholic church numbers also shrink, partly due to the lasting impact of priest abuse scandals, according to the report.