OLDS — The Olds United Church congregation is no more.
The building still exists, but is now in the hands of the church’s Chinook Winds Regional Council after members of the Olds United Church voted in late spring to disband the congregation, ending a history that dates back to 1899.
Members of the congregation are free to join Knox United Church in Didsbury or another church of their choosing if they wish.
The church began its life as a Methodist church in 1899. In 1925, several denominations were amalgamated to form the United Church of Canada.
“Over time the church grew, and newer buildings were built. As decades passed, the church saw many changes,” an email from the church said.
“One significant turning point came with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which deeply impacted many faith communities, including this one. While the congregation experienced changes in membership and resources, their faithful presence continued as long as possible.”
Scott Reynolds, who works on church development in southern Alberta and British Columbia for the United Church, said the Regional Council is looking at several options, ranging from it remaining as a place of worship to a variety of uses that could include renting out space in the building.
“Right now, we're exploring a bunch of different opportunities,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
Reynolds was asked if the building could house a variety of uses or tenants, including businesses.
“Yes is the short answer to that question. Yes, I could see there being a mixed use,” he said.
“We're really hopeful that one of those opportunities will be ministry opportunity, so that we'll be able to have some kind of United Church spiritual presence in Olds that will operate out of the building.”
Reynolds noted it wouldn’t be unprecedented for the church to rent out space to other organizations.
The Redemption Church has been renting the sanctuary and other space for years, and at one point, the Mountain View Hospice Society was located in the building as well. It later relocated to its current space on 51st Street.
Reynolds said in an effort to determine the best use for the building, he plans to meet with some people on-site this fall “to pray together about how the United Church might serve the people of Olds well.
“And as we go through that process over a period of months, my hope is that we'll be able to come to some decisions about how we're going to do that in the sort of short to medium term, and hopefully the long term.”
It was pointed out to Reynolds that over the years, the congregation in Olds United Church fell to around 20 people. He was asked if he could see that figure growing beyond 20, maybe up to 100.
“I mean, I guess the short answer to that question is yes, I could see that happening,” Reynolds said. “Do I anticipate that two years from now there's going to be 100 people gathering in the United Church to worship on the site? Probably not.”
However, he said he’s hopeful that “a new worshiping community” could be created that could grow beyond 20 people.
Reynolds said he’s aware that the new worshiping community is “unlikely to be the primary source of finances” to pay the bills for operating the building. “That's very typical of new church development,” he said.
“The larger bodies of the church, the national body of the United Church, and the regional body of the United Church, will make some contributions toward making sure that that can happen over the course of a period of months and maybe years, as we move forward again, sort of depending on what we what we decide together over the over the coming months about what the right approach is.
“But, yeah, a big chunk of funding will end up coming from outside of that new worshiping community, at least at first.”
Reynolds said there’s no timeline established for when the building’s future uses need to be determined.
“We're not in a rush,” he said. “It's our it's our intention to have the United Church be a lasting presence in the community for a long time.
“And so, if something doesn't come up in six months or so, we're in a place where we have the opportunity to be patient, but hopefully in a way that also has a little bit of urgency to it, because we want to be present,” he added.
“My hope is to start gathering people on the like spiritual community side of things for at least some initial exploration stages relatively soon, like within the year, for sure. And then we'll see how that develops.”
