It's hard to miss the warning signs-we're in danger of losing the landmark religious structures around us. In the past year, parishioners, residents and travelers witnessed the demolition of a historic church on the northern edge of the village in Whitefield. A large "For Sale" sign stands in front of the Epsom Meeting House (and a plea for contributions to save it) along heavily traveled Route 4. The steeple of Portsmouth's North Church crashed to the ground. The leaders of the Acworth Meetinghouse had theirs removed to avoid a similar fate.

Deferred maintenance and changing patterns of church attendance challenge historic religious properties around the state. Consolidation of services leaves building empty or the responsibility of very small congregations. Many meetinghouses are no longer aided by town appropriations as they once were; others are, but municipalities struggle to justify use and cover costs.

New Hampshire is not alone. The historic Catholic Churches of Greater Boston and Prairie Churches of North Dakota have been named to America's list of 11 Most Endangered Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Trust has identified Historic Houses of Worship as one of its pivotal Public Policy Issues for 2006.

Key ingredients to combat these trends are redefining the church's users and stewards, and developing sound strategies for building assessments, fundraising and programming according to Partners for Sacred Places, a national organization dedicated to the stewardship and active use of religious properties.

Many churches are critical visual and historic landmarks. Studies also demonstrate their tremendous service as hosts to community groups such as Rotary, scouts and day care. Kathi Bradt of the Acworth Meeting House Project describes their iconic landmark crowning the village green as the "kitchen of the community," hosting community suppers, meetings, and other social occasions.

Congregations like those in Acworth and Portsmouth have extended their fundraising campaigns to include a community beyond their congregations, which experts say is essential to success. In other cases, tenants, using under-utilized spaces, provide new income streams. Catching up on deferred building problems, performing cyclical maintenance and using data from energy audits help reduce operating costs.

Identifying sympathetic users is critical when churches are vacated. Catholic churches like St. Stanislaus and St. Casimir in Nashua have been adapted for new uses, while the futures of St. Francis Xavier (Nashua) and St. Anne's (Manchester) are still unclear. In Epsom, fundraising and planning work by the Friends of Epsom's Meetinghouse has led the town select board to vote to re-use the church as town offices and a community center if certain conditions are met.

The National Trust has resources for sacred sites that are available from the community section of their Web site (www.nthp.org ) or by calling or emailing the N.H. Field Service representative (224-2281 or ms@nhpreservation.org). Partners for Sacred Places, a national non-profit dedicated to the stewardship and active use of historic religious buildings (www.sacredplaces.org), also offers resources and a small grants program. Saving these historic structures requires hard work and money, but as the city of Portsmouth has discovered, the effort can also build and strengthen intangible bonds of community, and in a sense, that's what these buildings have always been about.

In a box:

Portsmouth residents created the Market Square Steeple Fund to assist the North Church's congregation of fewer than 500 to raise $1.5 million to preserve the city landmark that has stood for 150 years. The group turned the crash of the steeple (and the scaffolding from the active restoration project) into a public relations opportunity. To make their case, the mayor and the building committee received the endorsement of Gov. John Lynch; the Portsmouth Herald and Sea Coast Media Group printed a color newspaper supplement; and a widely distributed video brought cutting edge technology to the solicitation of contributions.

"The steeple is our Eiffel tower, or our Big Ben," wrote the Portsmouth Herald in urging the community to contribute to preserve this icon of Portsmouth's rich architectural heritage.