Preserving the Narrative: What Storefront Churches Lose When Overshadowed by Mega Churches — An Analysis Through Land-Use History and Wilson’s Information Behavior Model

Storefront churches have historically served as vital centers for spiritual, social, and cultural life in marginalized urban communities, especially among African Americans during and after the Great Migration. Yet, their visibility and voice are increasingly threatened by the rise of mega churches and the accompanying shifts in urban land-use enforcement and zoning policies. This paper synthesizes Alicea Peyton’s research on the evolution of land-use enforcement and its impact on storefront churches with T.D. Wilson’s Evolution in Information Behavior Modeling to explore how the erasure of storefront churches’ histories affects not only physical spaces but also the collaborative and individual information behaviors critical to community cohesion and identity. We argue that the sidelining of storefront churches disrupts localized knowledge sharing, leadership development, and cultural memory, thereby diminishing the community’s capacity for self-representation and resilience.