The parish board wanted the building to be demolished to prevent possible “unworthy” re-use in the future. However, some neighbourhood residents were strongly opposed to the demolition of the church, and set up a committee to prevent this from happening. As one of its members told the newspaper Het Parool, demolishing the church amounts to “demolishing your history”.
The first Halloween procession to Crossbones to honour "the outcast dead" took place following the production of a play, "The Southwark Mysteries", at Southwark Cathedral. Led by local playwright and poet John Constable, processors were invited to tie ribbons, trinkets and messages to the gates that border the site. They also lit candles and sang.
The Chassé church became disused due to the declining number of practising Catholics in the neighbourhood. The local population had changed and now included Turkish and Moroccan migrants and their children. Later it also attracted young urban professionals. The building was left vacant for many years. It was used by squatters for a time, and later as a shelter for refugees. Some parishioners continued to meet in the vicarage.
After selling the building in 1983, the Reformed congregation moved to the side-room, once used by the Maranatha community, for their services. In 1990, the Reformed community left the building and joined with another Reformed church (Pniëlkerk, in the Bos en Lommer district). Meanwhile, the Maranatha Church, now called Maranatha Ministries, grew exponentially.
The site was disturbed during the construction of London Underground's Jubilee line. Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology Service excavated 148 skeletons which, they estimated, accounted for less than 1% of the total burials. Locals established a campaign to save the site from development and stop further removal of human remains.
A site on the corner of Harper Road and Dickens Square was acquired and planning permission was granted to build a mosque. A temporary building, accommodating 400 men, was later replaced with the current larger one, the Baitul Aziz Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, which caters for 2,500 men and women.
In 1983 the Reformed congregation sold its church building to the Maranatha community. The new owners of the building made some changes to the interior: the church benches were replaced by removable chairs, and a sound system and a stage with a bath for baptisms were installed. The Church’s organ was left in place. It continued to be played for some time, but has now fallen silent in favour of the amplified worship music of the “praise team”.
In 1981 the building was bought by a Turkish-Dutch community and converted into the “Fatih Mosque”. The conversion entailed one major transformation: the former church entrance was closed and replaced by a prayer wall, in order for the Muslim community to be able to pray in the direction of Mecca.
A small mosque was opened by Bangladeshi Muslim migrants in the basement of a shop in Newington Causeway and used for children’s Qur’an classes. A Bengali women’s group was established at a nearby community centre.
The Pentecostal Maranatha Church (Volle Evangelie Gemeente Maranatha) started to hold their services in a side-room of the Bethelkerk. The Maranatha community had come into existence in 1960 and used to meet in a room in a building in the city centre (Frederiksplein). In 1975, Stanley Hofwijks became the leader of the community and, under his work as a pastor, Maranatha started to grow quickly.
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