When Southland Christian Church in Nicholasville, Ky., wanted to add a satellite location for parishioners in Lexington, Ky., in 2010, it acquired the shuttered Lexington Mall. Southland converted a former Dillard’s store into staff offices and a nursery and built a new auditorium on a portion of the mall property that was demolished. The former Lexington Mall now accommodates 5,000 parishioners every Sunday, said Kurt Braun, Southland’s executive director of operations and advancement.

“There’s no way in the world when we first started looking at it that it would make sense,” Braun said. “But the more we learned about the property, we saw the potential impact it could have on the surrounding neighborhood. We wanted to be a light in a dark place. It’s a good marrying of the needs of the church with the needs of the community.”

Some former shoppers at the former Kentucky mall stop by the church to share their memories. “As we opened the building, we heard from a lot of people who said they bought their prom dress here or had lunch with their grandparents here,” Braun said.

For Hope Church, the Hazelwood mall location represents a chance to more than triple its current space in a property that’s centrally located for its members.