Today I learned that the Church I took my mom to is closing

Sun May 12, 2024 6:53 pm

My mom was a Christian and took me to church when I was a kid, and initially enrolled me in a Roman Catholic school, where I was physically attacked by a bully classmate. But the church on Sunday she attended in another state and city was Evangelical in theology.

The bullying was so bad I stopped the Roman catholic school after first grade and transferred to a public elementary school. I had thoughts like why doesn't Jesus protect me from being beaten up, by a so-called fellow Catholic Christian?

There was a Swedenborg church I knew of, at a significant distance, so I did not attend but it seemingly went out of business. Swedenborg churches use the Bible and the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg.

Over the years I've seen a Unity Church and several other churches close down.

I have always wondered what becomes of both the lay persons and the clergy when a church closes down. What kind of career for example do the Swedenborg pastor has after her church she lead closes? Where do the former lay persons go after it shuts down?

My mom was dying I took her to an Evangelical Church very close in terms of distance to where I live. I feel churches are all the same, so I found one that was close in terms of driving.

This was maybe around 2016 and when COVID hit 2020 I stopped and she died a year later.

I learned today that the church I took my mother to is closing which is surprising to me since it is a very large church with many attendants.

This church has professional paid clergy and a very large number of attendees so I am astounded. Also the buildings they use seem perfectly good and well maintained.

So yeah I have a lot of questions like what happens to them, where will the lay persons go, and what happens to the buildings.

I'm shocked really I don't know if it is money issues or something else. I'm not privy to any inside information like that. its most shocking to me is that its a fairly large church with lots of lay people present, and with a large staff including a Christian rock music program and modern contemporary worship.

In the future to come, I will have fading memories of that church as the last church my mom attended when she was alive, but that church itself will be closing and shutting down, and be an empty building.

the building is perfectly good and on good real estate to.

It seems to me more businesses are going out of business than are being replaced by new businesses.

I do have something of a confession, what I really liked about that church was that it was very large with lots of people present.

So I would take my mom there at the beginning where she, in the early days of her dementia, would talk to the other members. I don't like listening to sermons, so after they play worship music I would leave with my mom and I would go to some place to eat, or if the weather was nice, walk in the parking lot.

I would time my time out for about an hour and a half, then I return to the church as it was winding down, and again meet the people there. So I mostly avoided the sermons but was there at the beginning and end, and my mom got to have friendly warm social interactions.

AFAIK this church is the only church I know of that I can do this, other churches are too small so my leaving and returning would immediately be noticed.

so those are my memories and its crazy this church announced it will close soon.

its services are on youtube so I can revisit those memories.