Millions of people will make their annual visit to church this month as they pack the pews for carol concerts and Christmas services.

But in the New Year most churches will be attended only by the faithful few.

Church attendances are declining steadily as the UK becomes a pagan nation.

Great buildings such as St Peter's, the parish church of Brighton, have congregations of about 100, when they were built to take more than 1,000.

This decline has been happening for a century. In that time, in Brighton and Hove alone, more than 60 churches have been closed or converted to other uses.

Some of the losses have been tragic.

St Margaret's, off Cannon Place, was a delightful classic building, demolished to make way for, of all things, Sussex Heights.

All Souls in Eastern Road was no less lovely.

There have been skilful conversions such as Holy Trinity in Ship Street, where the great preacher Frederick Robertson thrilled congregations 150 years ago, is now an arts centre.

St Wilfrid's in Elm Grove, an intriguing Thirties church, has become much-needed housing.

But much more needs to be done, which is why the new Bishop of Chichester has set up a study, in which the Rural Dean of Brighton and Hove is taking an interest.

There are far too many little-used churches close to each other, which simply cannot survive in this secular age.

The Church of England could take a lesson from some other denominations. Right in the heart of Brighton, the Central Free Church near the Clock Tower was demolished and the site sold for commercial use.

The proceeds were used to build the Brighthelm Centre in North Road, one of the best-used community buildings in the city.

Dorset Gardens Methodist Church has been pulled down and is being rebuilt with far better access and more community space than before.

The Salvation Army has already achieved a similar rebuilding on the site of the old Congress Hall by The Level.

There are some churches occupying valuable sites whose futures will have to be considered. They include St Augustine's in Stanford Avenue and Holy Trinity in Blatchington Road.

There are other magnificent buildings, like St Martin's in Lewes Road and St Michael's in Victoria Road, which could not be demolished but which must cost a fortune in upkeep.

The way ahead has been shown by St Patrick's in Cambridge Road, Hove.

There, the most beautiful part has been preserved as a place of worship while the bulk of this barn-like building is now housing homeless people.

Over the past two decades, the Chichester Diocesan Housing Association has undertaken magnificent work by developing some of the most difficult sites in the city for people in need.

Perhaps this association - and other housing trusts active in the area - will be able to undertake more skilled conversion and rebuilding work on several more church sites, including St Peter's.

Arts organisations desperate for space could probably use handsome buildings like St Andrew's in Waterloo Street, which has been disused for far too long.

Brighton and Hove has a heritage of historic churches few resorts can match. With ingenuity, it should be possible to keep the best of these buildings and convert others, to bring benefits to the whole city rather than to tiny congregations.