After decades of serving the Unity Church community, and Anglican parishioners, the St. John’s Anglican Church will close its doors officially July 17.
The ritual observance of the removal of services from a sacred place, such as a church closing, is classed as a deconsecration. St. John’s will hold such a service July 17.
When the Town of Unity came into existence in the fall of 1908, the Anglican Church was holding services at the home of Mr. Aikens, with a missionary student, Mr. W. H. Davis in charge.
Through hard work and determination, St. John’s was erected in 1909 under the ministry of Mr. McLaughlin. Funds were received from the Church of England in the British Isles.
Many changes came about for St. John’s. In 1926, the vestry sanctioned the erection of an addition at the rear of the church to be used for Sunday School and social purposes and was there until 1960 when the present hall was built due to the untiring efforts of lay reader, Reg. Deele.
For a short time in 1971, the old parish hall was used as a funeral parlour.
In 1984, there was a small, but active branch of the Anglican Church Women led by Mrs. Laurene Burnell.
There has not been a regular Anglican minister in Unity for some time and the church was used more for the hall than the occasional services that were held there.
The last priest that served full time in Unity was Reverend Jonathon Hoskins, and he left in 2009. No one wanted to take on the responsibility of overseeing renting the rectory and since the church was unsure about getting another full-time priest, the rectory was sold.
Reasoning behind decision to end church's operations
Val Middleton, spokesperson for St. John’s, says, “A lot of the reasoning behind no permanent priest would have had to do with not having a rectory. Having a permanent priest not only means needing place to live, but hiring expenses such as wages and all those deductions that come with … Various people of the congregation led services such as Dave Kerr, Anita Harding, Margaret Kratchmer, me to name a few. Rev Gordon Lines began serving our parish in 2010, travelling from Saskatoon. Rev. Lines and I began sharing services in 2012 as a cost savings measure, since travel was our biggest expense.
“The congregation kept going with the lay services, kept up the participation with ecumenical events and as many events that we did before — Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, Lenten lunches until we did not have enough bodies. Lay services worked well and communion was received once a month with Rev. Lines. I received training as a lay reader and as a pastoral visitor so I could do services, take communion to people in LTC, hospital or their homes if they could not get to church. The Anglican Church is eager to have locally trained people as priest supply gets more difficult and there are various classes/workshops that can be taken,” adds Middleton.
The decision was made in 2017 to close for the winter after the Christmas service, and things were set to resume in April, lessening the risk for elderly congregants and those who travelled.
The Anglican Church’s last service was December of 2019 and as with many places and spaces in Saskatchewan, people looked to 2020 with optimism. Then the pandemic hit. Closures were everywhere and churches were included in the no gathering places. By the time the public health orders were eased, there were only two that attended in Unity and the other person was still uncertain about being part of a group setting. Out of town people found other ways to worship and did not think they would be back.
Middleton says this left her holding a service for one. She tried, in vain, a couple of times to organize a service even advertising in the paper and online, yet no one came.
This evidenced the need to proceed with closure and Middleton had talks with the diocese over the years about what to do when the time came, and the final decision was left up to the local congregation. By phone, the decision was made in May of 2022 to send the request for deconsecrating into the diocese.
Middleton goes on to say, “From what i understand, after the church is deconsecrated, the building will be put up for sale. That is what happened in Wilkie and Cut Knife. I have no idea of how much interest there will be, or a timeline for a sale. The hall renters will remain with their dates that are already booked until any sale is done. I will also keep renting out the hall as desired.”
The diocese will have certain things removed from the church (same as what happened in Wilkie), there will be things taken to the archives, some things will obviously be included in the sale of the building. Until then, Middleton is working on a complete inventory for the diocese, with the hopes that there are some new/small churches that could use some items as well such as altar cloths, deacons’ robes and other items.
Church was involved in community in more ways than just Sunday services
Even though services were becoming few and far between, St. John’s Anglican members participated in the Unity Ministerial Association, the Way of the Cross Walk, Remembrance Day, grad services, Canada Day interdenominational service and Lenten lunches.
The church also became a place for local vendors to participate in Christmas sales and later monthly sales during the year. Middleton has written Faith Matters columns for the local paper and the church contributed to the cemetery project in 2020. A scholarship in the name of a past priest, Rev. Matthew Borden, is given out every year to a Grade 12 UCHS graduate.
There is hope that the final service at St. John’s will bring out people who have not attended in a long time. Bishop Christopher Harper and Rev. Gordon Lines will be leading the service with a social to follow.
There will be no big last hurrah for a small church that has been in Unity since it was settled, just an acceptance of the inevitable.
Middleton says, “It is bittersweet but my experience with St. John’s and its congregation have made me a better person, gave me a clearer vision of my faith and I am grateful to God for giving me those opportunities.”
The pandemic was hard on churches as prior to 2020, congregations, no matter the size, migrated to churches for Sunday Services, season worship events, attending for funerals, weddings and baptisms as well as gathering when a crisis hit the community. For months in 2020, this was not an option and once people got accustomed to attending service though online venues or watching service on television, the return to church was not imminent for everyone.
The decision to close St. John’s adds to the growing concern of churches across the province and in Canada no longer have congregations to support their existence or being unable to recruit new ministers, pastors, and priests to lead services. Following Unity’s Anglican Church closure that leaves just the Lutheran Church, Unity United Church, Unity Baptist Church and St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in the community.
