REGINA – For the first time in 60 years, there will be no Sunday service at the Zion United Church.
The elderly congregation has been dwindling in size and can’t keep up with the cost of maintaining the building. Last Sunday, it held its final service. It brought tears to the eyes of parishioner Robert McMinn.
“Gut-wrenching. Very emotional. It has meant so much to me and now I’m losing my friends,” he said.
The congregation started meeting in people’s living rooms, then moved into Imperial School before the church was built in 1955.
Fred Atkinson’s parents helped found the church in the 1950s.
“I grew up in the church, went to scouts, that sort of thing,” said Atkinson. “I was married here, baptized a couple of girls. I had the funeral for my first wife here who died of cancer.”
In its prime, the Zion United Church was home to dozens of families, and a number of veterans. However, over time, that changed significantly.
Get breaking National news
“We came to the point where we ran out of energy. We have a senior congregation. I’m one of the youth,” said Atkinson.
“There was about 60 people, and they are mostly 70 or 80 years old,” said Norman Lambert, the treasurer. “We had no young people anymore.”
Lambert said the cost to maintain the church was about $120,000, meaning each member would have to donate more than $2,000 per year.
“I looked at the bottom line of the books and could see that we were running out of money to keep going,” Lambert said.
Evelyn McConnell has been attending the church for almost 50 years. She said there was no choice but to close the doors.
“It had to be this way. We didn’t close abruptly,” she said.
For Lambert, the closure is not just about losing a place of worship, but also a family.
“That’s what these people are. They’re caring people. We love each other,” he said. “This is my life.”
Before McMinn turned the lights off for the final time, he grabbed a hymnal as a keepsake. Along with the book, he’ll hang on to his memories and carry them forward to one of the ten other United churched in Regina.
“It’s ever so sad when a church or a school closes. I don’t care what denomination it is,” he said. “But, life goes on.”
The building has been sold to Eden Care Communities and will be demolished in August to make room for new seniors’ homes.
Comments