BATTLEFORD — Despite circulating rumours that a chapter of the United Church in Saskatchewan was closing its doors for good following the COVID-19 pandemic, Battleford's United Church, which celebrated its 98th birthday in June, is still very much alive.
"It's kind of a rumour in the community that this church is closed and has been for a while, but it hasn't. It is never closed except for a space during COVID. And then we close for a month in the summer for vacation time. But we've heard from several people, 'we thought you were closed,' and we're not," Shelia Johnson, the board chair, told the News-Optimist/SASKTODAY.ca
The rumour started after the church posted a for sale sign on their lawn. With directives from their regional council to shut down the church for a few months during the pandemic and a shrinking congregation, there was originally discussion to sell the church and move to a smaller location, fuelling the rumours that the chapter was closing.
Addressing the rumours about the "for sale" sign, Johnson added, "...we thought we wanted to downsize because our congregation is smaller than this building requires ... But once we considered it, we thought, 'Well, really, where are we going to go? Is it necessary that we should be homeless because we don't need this building?'"
And though the church has called many buildings home throughout its 98-year life after Reverend Tyndale of Wilkie moved to the area to preach in June 1925, their current home on Fourth Avenue in Battleford was finished being built in June of 1984 almost entirely due to volunteers.
"It took, I think, almost two years to build, so it was a work in progress most of the time, and, of course, it required of major commitment from the congregation at that time, too, to move from a building where they were bursting at the seams apparently. Yeah, to come here would have been boggling," Johnson said.
"That's one of the reasons why we talked ourselves out of selling it was because there's still a few members that did a lot of work that are still alive and well, and are still a major part of this congregation, so it was going to break their hearts to sell it. So we didn't ... in the end, we decided that we would just carry on in this large building until we reach an end."
And Johnson hopes the end doesn't come soon.
Following the unanimous vote to remain open and not sell the church, plans began o get the church's name out there again in hopes of seeing more rentals for weddings, funerals, concerts or other local events.
"This church has amazing acoustics. We rent to various groups, including a choir that comes here weekly during their season. And we have another congregation that joins us," Johnson said, noting that they rent to the Korean Presbyterian congregation or their "wonderful" downstairs area for receptions or their kitchen that could see caters brought in.
"We don't care what denomination they are, any denomination. It's just like a community building."
And though it's easy for some, keeping the building maintained with an aging congregation as they try to expand their message can sometimes be difficult.
"It's a lot of work for a few people to try and maintain the building ... so it's a limited number of people who do the work that's necessary. And we've accepted that we're not going to do any major upgrades to the building in the time that we are here now," she said.
"We'll stay here as long as we possibly can. And when we have no more congregation, then we'll discuss that big C word. But until then, we're going to stay," Johnson said.
"This church is open."
