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Ailsa
Craig ~ Nairn
Church closing
27 May
AILSA CRAIG - May 27th will
be the last service for the Ailsa Craig Presbyterian Church, which has
been in the village in some form since the 1870s, with the current structure
being built in the 1920s.
The congregation recently made a decision to close the church, and Reverent
Kate Ballagh-Steeper said that one of the reasons for the congregation’s
decision was the declining numbers, a situation that exists in most
churches in Canada.
After the church closes, Reverend Ballagh-Steeper said that the assets
of the church will be assigned to the National Church along with a recommendation
from the congregation for disposal of those assets. She said that she
has been minister of the Ailsa Craig church for four years and she has
not yet been assigned another congregation. She said that area churches
like the Beechwood Presbyterian Church, the Ailsa Craig United Church
or possibly the Nairn Mennonite Church who all have worked with the
Ailsa Craig Presbyterian Church in the past could absorb current members.
Reverend Ballagh-Steeper said that the church would try to provide some
pastoral care for members in institutions like nursing homes, but to
what extent is not known yet.
Ken Johnston, who has been a member of the church for about 15 years,
said that he has made no decision yet what church he will attend after
the church closes. He said that there were “not enough people
to be financially viable”. He said that the congregation tried
“a number of different ways to keep the church open, but in the
end, the decision was made to close.”
Johnston said that the church would be participating in the “last
supper” for some congregation volunteers who each year makes up
about70 seventy dinners at the Ailsa Craig Recretaion Centre and donate
them to the Ailsa Craig Food Bank. This Friday night will be the last
time they create their ‘dinners for four’ for the food bank
as this community service, like the church that has existed for more
than 125 years in Ailsa Craig, will be finished serving the village
at the end of May.
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