The transformation of a former Wesleyan Methodist church in Kilmore into a proposed mosque says as much about Australia’s changing religious landscape as it does about one regional town. At the soft launch and fundraising dinner for the Kilmore Islamic and Community Centre on 1 August 2026, the project offered a window into a broader story: a small number of churches across Victoria are finding a second life as mosques, reflecting changing patterns of faith, migration and community in contemporary Australia.
The former church at 25 Powlett Street in Kilmore has stood as part of the town’s landscape for more than 165 years. Built during the Victorian gold rush, it witnessed generations of baptisms, weddings, funerals and Sunday services. It served not only as a place of worship but as a centre of learning, charity and community life. Yet, like many churches across Australia, its congregation gradually declined.
Eventually, the costs of maintaining a heritage building outweighed the capacity of a dwindling membership, and the church closed.
Its story is becoming increasingly familiar. Across Australia, churches have been consolidating, merging congregations or selling buildings that have become difficult to sustain. Demographic change, declining church attendance and the financial burden of maintaining heritage properties have all contributed to this reality. Hundreds of church properties have changed hands over the past two decades.
Most have become private homes, cafés, galleries or commercial premises. A much smaller number, however, have found a different future, they have remained places of worship.
Victoria now has several examples of former churches becoming mosques. The heritage-listed Wesleyan Methodist Church in Kilmore joins former church buildings in Strathmore, Craigieburn and Geelong that have been acquired by Muslim communities.
While the number remains small, it reflects two broader trends occurring simultaneously:
Christian denominations continue to rationalise ageing congregations and surplus property;
Victoria’s Muslim population has grown substantially, particularly across Melbourne’s northern and western growth corridors.
Many local Muslim communities have outgrown the makeshift places of worship established in converted factories, shopfronts and temporary premises, prompting them to seek more permanent homes that can better serve both their congregations and the wider community. Purchasing an existing church is often more practical and affordable than acquiring vacant land and navigating lengthy planning approvals.
Is this becoming a trend? Perhaps, but only in a narrow sense. While the number of church-to-mosque conversions has increased in recent years, they remain the exception rather than the rule, with little evidence of any widespread transformation of Australia’s religious landscape.
Rather than signalling conflict, each example represents the convergence of two demographic trends: reduced demand from some Christian congregations and increasing demand from growing Muslim communities. Too often, however, these stories are framed as a narrative of religious replacement. In reality, they tell a very different story. The more meaningful narrative is not one of loss, but of renewal — not the disappearance of one faith and the arrival of another, but the continuation of sacred spaces fulfilling the purpose for which they were originally built.
Churches and mosques have much in common. Both are places where communities gather in worship. Both provide education, charitable support, pastoral care and opportunities for service. Both bring people together during life’s most significant moments. Although their traditions differ, their civic contribution is quite similar.
Seen through this lens, a church becoming a mosque is not simply a change of ownership. It is an example of adaptive reuse that preserves the building’s original purpose. These buildings are given a renewed life, continuing to serve as centres of faith and community service, albeit for a different faith tradition.
Another aspect that often goes unnoticed is that heritage buildings require considerable investment. In many instances, Muslim communities purchasing these properties undertake substantial restoration works, preserving buildings that might otherwise continue to deteriorate or face uncertain futures. Heritage is not diminished by this investment; it is sustained through it.
The proposed Kilmore mosque project exemplifies this approach. Its vision is not to erase the building’s history but to cherish it. The church’s architectural character and heritage significance remain central to the project while a new generation of worshippers gives the building renewed life.
Listening to the presentations at the fundraising dinner, it became clear that this was not a story of one faith replacing another. It was a story of continuity. The people who built the church in 1858 hoped it would nurture faith, strengthen community and inspire service to others. More than a century and a half later, those same aspirations continue to define the building’s role — only the congregation has changed.
As Australia’s religious landscape evolves, buildings like this remind us that continuity can be just as important as change. The congregation may be different, but the sacred purpose of the place endures.
*Credit: ABC Religion & Ethics