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Closing in Moorland

MOORLAND – United Church of Christ Congregational in Moorland was once attended so well the church was forced to expand.

But now, after 128 years of serving its community, the church is set to close Aug. 23.

“I would say since at least 20 years ago you could see the writing on the wall,” said Byron Chalstrom, a trustee with the church. “But we kept going.”

For the last several years, church attendance has dropped. Members were growing older and there weren’t many young people who attended the church.

“It was kind of a gradual thing. You would notice membership falling and church attendance falling,” he said. “This is the kind of phenomenon that’s kind of typical for small rural churches and small towns, in general. You lose your school and businesses disappear.”

Richard Silvey, another longtime member who is on the board of trustees, said when he moved to Moorland in 1968 the population was already decreasing.

“The school closed here in town when our kids were in grade school,” he said. “And it was just the grade school when we moved out here.”

He remembered when the church was filled with children Sunday mornings for Sunday school.

He had moved to the town just a few years after the church expanded its entrance, classrooms and basement to accommodate the large congregation.

“We had three children and this church was full of kids,” he said. “All of these Sunday school rooms were used.”

But that’s not the case anymore.

“Our children have grown up and moved away,” he said. “We just haven’t been able to replace members.”

Though the congregation has been dwindling, Chalstrom described it as a tight-knit circle of people who, for the most part, are related.

“You know everyone very well,” he said. “We all go out to breakfast after worship. We’ve been doing that for a long time.”

Everett Field, the church moderator, has been going to the church much of his life and remembered when the pews were full of families.

But over the years, he’s seen the average age of the congregation increase dramatically.

“We had a lot of young people back then,” he said.

Even up until about 10 years ago the congregation was a healthy size.

“We weren’t bulging, but it was pretty fair,” he said. “But the rural population is going down.”

Though the church is closing, the building will still be used.

Chalstrom said a resident plans to run a wedding planning business out of the church.

“Without anyone using it for some purpose like that, I don’t know what would happen. It would just become dilapidated,” he said.

He is thankful the building is still going to be used.

But since it won’t be used for the congregation, Chalstrom said members will have to find another church to go to on Sundays.

“The members will just go our own ways,” he said.

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