Palm Sunday will mark the last day of services for the former St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, which officially merged with St. John’s in North Adams in December to form All Saints Episcopal Church.
The Commercial Street church, known for its unique stone architecture and iconic red doors, along with its neighboring parish hall on River Street, will be put up for sale, according to spokeswoman Lauren Norcross.
She said the decision to shutter one of the churches, which was voted upon by the congregation’s members, wasn’t taken lightly.
“We had some independent studies done of both buildings,” Norcross said Friday. “St. John’s, which we’ve been calling All Saints North, is in better shape. Recently we had a capital campaign that raised $120,000 which was used for a lot of renovations and improvements. Prior to that, in the 1990s, the church and its adjoining parish hall underwent some major renovations, including the installation of an elevator.”
‘The two parishes began talking about a merger in 2008, a result of financial hardships and declining memberships over the last three decades’
Being played out in countless dioceses across the U.S. TEC is the laughingstock of christianity and most christians I know want nothing to do with it.
Nothing unusual here; it’s been going on in TEC for over fifty years…..and there’s no end in sight.
“over the last three decades” – so that takes us back to the end of the 1970s. In 1977, many anglicans left ECUSA to form the Continuum and in 1978 bishops of the “global south” protested openly at the Lambeth Conference – in each case, they were registering their concern at the toleration of liberal teaching by western leaders, as exemplified by the doctrine of Bishop Jack Spong.
So, toleration of liberal teaching, and at around the same time these two churches in Massachusetts noticed their membership starting to drop (as did many other churches). Wow, do you think there might be a connection?!?!?
If you want to destroy your church, just tolerate liberal teaching. It might take a couple of decades to work – it is a slow-acting poison – but it will do the job. Bye-bye St Marks…
As a former member of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, I know that the decline in many parishes in that diocese is not simply a loss of the Gospel. Many congregations were founded in the manufacturing heyday of New England, often with benefactors among the owners and management of the factories. The churches built in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s are magnificent edifices, many with Tiffany windows, etc. With the flight of manufacturing over the last six or seven decades, populations in many “mill towns” has decreased and local economies are struggling. Even had the parishes remained orthodox, they would have faced a struggle.
With a loss of all but the “social gospel” in the diocese (with one or two magnificent exceptions), there is nothing left but the “we are nice people who do nice things; come join us” message for “evangelism.” And who needs to attend Sunday ceremonies to be encouraged to do “nice things”?
A few years ago, the diocese closed St John’s, a parish on the north side of Worcester, a parish which had rejected the renewal efforts of an orthodox priest (although there were some individuals who came to a biblical faith during his time there). The diocese said that the area was “overchurched” and could never grow. Six months or so later, they rented the facilities to an evangelical congregation – which is flourishing and growing. The diocese does not like the biblical Gospel – but the people of Western Massachusetts will respond when it is proclaimed and lived.
RE: “‘The two parishes began talking about a merger in 2008, a result of financial hardships and declining memberships over the last three decades’”
Why that’s odd. Because in the year 2000 ASA was at over 100.
And in 2003, ASA was at 75.
So in a matter of around 4 years, ASA decreased by 25%.
In 2003, ASA was at 75 — and [i]the very next year[/i], ASA was at 50 — a decline of 1/3 in one year.
So over an 10 year period, [i]in one year[/i], that parish lost 25% of its ASA.
2003 was a death-dealing blow for this parish. The actions of General Convention 2003 have brought death for so many many many parishes in TEC. While there are no doubt many and varied issues that are involved with the death of a parish, we know that the actions of 2003 were death-dealing hammer blows.
We see it time after time after time in The Episcopal Church.
Nice going, foaming revisionist activists in TEC.