In September 2018 I visited Copenhagen. During a canal boat tour the guide pointed out the ring on the tower of Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center (Danish: Nikolaj Kunsthal). It looked like a church. In fact it was a church.

The Wikipedia article states that St. Nicholas’ Church was one of Copenhagen’s oldest churches. The first Lutheran sermon in Copenhagen was preached there in 1530. However in 1795 it burned down. According to the art center’s website, the state was not in a financial position to rebuild the church and by 1805 it was no longer an official church.

So during my exploration the old town of Copenhagen I came upon it. In one portion of the church was a restaurant, and to my surprise neon beer signs lit up where stained glass should have been.

I peaked inside the church and saw the inside had been stripped and painted all white with comic book type characters.

In the middle of an empty room I saw what looked to be trash pile. After research later on I found it really was some type of art exhibit. I could have gotten in with my Copenhagen tourist card, but at the time I didn’t know this. So Passed on it.

Imagine being in the audience when the first Lutheran sermon was preached in 1530, thinking that this church building would last for many years to come, but by 1805 it was gone. This was unusual because I’ve visited many medieval churches in Europe that still function as a church. This church was the first one that had totally changed the innards. And I was not impressed.

But looking back on it, it is not completely unheard of when church buildings change from their intended use. I can recall at least twice in my own hometown when this happened.

In the 1990s, folks in the Mt. Juliet Christian Church probably never thought their own church building would be used as a doggie day care facility. But it had become this by 2019.

The same thing can happen in one generation. I’m talking about people, souls. If the older generation is lax in teaching the younger generation about Christian ideals, then their belief, just like these church buildings, can vanish away.