Home is where the church is

By Tiffany Cassidy

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Edna Stark gets all the benefits of small town life in Mossbank, Sask. After more than 55 years in the community, she knows the people. When she leaves her blue-sided house, she passes the other homes on her street, each with its own character – a trait lost in new city developments.  She can have her needs met at the local grocery stores and library. 

For Stark, her community needs to offer everything “right to the last detail.” For a devout Lutheran, this includes the town’s Trinity Lutheran Church. “It is important to me – my family background from years ago was always Lutheran,” she says. 

Trinity Lutheran Church in Mossbank, Sask. Photo by Tiffany Cassidy

The town of just under 500 people is home to four churches: St. Louis Roman Catholic Church, Mossbank United Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, and Cornerstone Gospel Church. But the churches’ futures are cause for discussion.

The congregations of all four of the churches are decreasing in number by varying amounts. Stark estimates that her church sees an average of 18 members on a Sunday – a large drop from the 50 to 60 bodies Stark remembers from when she first started attending in the 1950s. 

Mossbank church-goers consider several factors to be the cause, such as young people moving away to university. But an idea echoed by members of the different churches is that religion is no longer a priority for many. “It isn’t the thing anymore, religion, is it?” Stark muses. 

If one of these churches were to close, what would it mean for the townspeople?

Holly Hutchinson doesn’t feel that being able to live in Mossbank is dependent on her church. “It doesn’t have to be an Associated Gospel church, it could be any church,” she said.

Yet both Stark and Elaine Yaganiski, a member of Mossbank’s Catholic Church, feel they would need a church within a close distance to their community where they could attend. They desire not only a place to go on Sundays, but the community a church provides throughout the week. A church is a place “to support one another,” Hutchinson said.

There isn’t much hope of other religions moving in, either. Wendy Gibson, the minister of Mossbank’s United Church, said people like to be with others of similar beliefs. Muslims tend to congregate with Muslims, and there isn’t a diverse enough community for many people to find others who share their beliefs in a small town.

“That’s one of the drawbacks in being in a small community,” Gibson said. “There isn’t a lot of diversity with religion or otherwise.” 

Wendy Gibson stands at the pulpit of Mossbank's United Church. Photo by Tiffany Cassidy

Gibson helped start a Women of Faith group, made up of members of Mossbank’s four churches. When they were first creating it, Gibson argued that the word “Christian” shouldn’t be used in the name of the group, but that the group should be open to women of any faith.

While Gibson thinks it would be beneficial for the town to grow in religious diversity, she’s not sure how that would happen. “There is a reluctance of some people in small towns to accept people of other faiths,” she said. 

Depending on the future of the four churches, the town’s diversity could continue to decrease. Decreasing congregations means decreasing finances. Gibson has been the only resident minister for the past seven years. Other churches share their leaders with other towns, or have them commute from out of town. 

For people like Stark, the ability to express religion is a staple for a community in which she chooses to live. She hopes dwindling numbers won’t mean they have to close her church. 

“We are concerned,” she said. “But with a few prayers we’re going to try and carry on as best we can.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in Mossbank, Sask. Photo by Tiffany Cassidy

Associated Gospel Church in Mossbank, Sask. Photo by Tiffany Cassidy

United Church in Mossbank, Sask. Photo by Tiffany Cassidy