Memories - Of the Many Churches I Have Known

Ecclesiastes  3

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:”    

I returned to Vancouver Island this week after visiting my aging mother in Alberta.  When I opened my e-mail, there it was – an invitation to the final worship service at Gibson’s United Church.  On this Sunday, April 11 at 11:00 am they will hold their final service by Zoom. If you would like to attend, this is the Zoom Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81139618951

The invitation filled me with sadness. After over 100 years of serving the community, the difficult decision was made to disband their congregation.  I have no personal ties to this Faith Community but it filled my heart and mind with memories of other times when congregations made that difficult decision.

Probably, the most emotional for me was when Ma-Me-O United Church, St. James United Church in Mulhurst Bay, and Millet United Church decided to disband the Pigeon Lake Millet Pastoral Charge in Alberta.  The three little churches had encountered many challenges over the years but when one was struggling, the other two churches would hold them up.  We often thought of it as a three-legged milk stool. Each leg was just as important as the other. Over the years, the leadership aged, the congregations dwindled, and finally it just seemed to make more sense to worship with a larger congregation located in neighbouring towns.

Ma-Me-O Beach was the church I attended for over twenty years, when my family was growing up.  I still remember the momentous decision to sell the old one room school house, which served as our church, that had been hauled onto the lot in the 1950’s when the congregation originally transitioned from a house church into what we called, in those days, a “Summer Mission Field”. It had many configurations over the years but finally settled into a thriving congregation as part of the Pigeon Lake Millet Pastoral Charge. In the early 1980’s, the congregation decided it was time to build the “New Church.” I often joked that it was the church built by pies because wherever and whenever there was a community gathering, the UCW would be there selling pies!

This church was where my children were baptized, where I became part of the leadership team, was a Lay Preacher on a regular basis, became involved with Presbytery and, eventually, went through the discernment process to become a minister within the United Church of Canada.  It was very rural and we probably averaged about 25 people on a Sunday morning.  We had a Sunday School, a VBS, a Youth Group, a Healing Touch Ministry, a UCW, an amazing joint choir, and probably had about 200 people attend our “Christmas in a Barn” Service (yes, an actual barn with real sheep and donkeys!).  My heart remembers the weddings attended, the funerals held for friends and neighbours and the many social events over the years. So yes, like many others, even though I no longer lived in the community, when the decision was made, I cried.

As part of my work with Presbytery over the years, we helped a number of congregations disband.  Often, the property was sold for a dollar with the hope that the community group which bought it would honor their agreement to maintain the cemetery in perpetuity. Each congregation represented a group of faithful people, committed to living out the Gospel in their particular community.

Back in 1960’s when families were growing (the Baby Boomers), the United Church of Canada opened a new church on average, one per week.  Today that trend has turned and we are closing or amalgamating approximately one church per week. News from General Council suggests that those numbers will increase dramatically over the next few years, in part because of the stressors caused by the COVID -19 pandemic and the inability of many small churches to meet the technological challenges.

It sounds rather like doom and gloom but, what inspires me, is that in the face of a declining denomination, there are still United Churches that are thriving and growing.  One could look at all the reasons that churches are closing – and there are many (including a societal shift away from organized religion)!

But I think it is more helpful to look at the churches that are thriving and growing.  There is no one formula that fits all. Churches have to respond to the context that they find themselves in, but in my observations they do have a few things in common. First, they practise radical hospitality. People aren’t just welcome to come and be like them, they are embraced and loved, just the way they are. Second, is much like the first – it’s a safe place to be and that is a very special and sacred kind of community.  Thirdly, they are outward looking and very clear about their mission to and in the world.  People are not attracted to buildings, music, or liturgy – it is the mission and vision of the community that attracts new people.  And lastly, and maybe most importantly, churches that are thriving are in the business of transforming people’s lives.

These are troubling times to be part of a church.  Like the culture we are part of, the church is changing in ways we never imagined just a few years ago. But God is doing a new thing and if we are open to embracing that change, then we too will thrive and journey with Christ, as our partner, into the future.  For those churches who choose to serve God, in their particular fashion that served them well for many years, they too are part of the history and rich heritage of the church and have proudly contributed to the building of the kingdom and the nourishment of the faithful for their place in time.

Amen