After 105 years of worship, this Saskatoon church is nearing its end

After 105 years, Saskatoon's Third Avenue United Church will cease its life as a continuous place of religious worship this summer.

Kenneth Holmes, chair of the church's board, says the dwindling congregation's last service at the historic downtown church will be held on June 30.

"We're all very disappointed that it's come to this," said Holmes last week.

The cost of renting the English Gothic space from the building's private owners has become too high for a congregation of only 30 to 45 people, said Holmes.

Heating the building during the winter a must to preserve the church's 2,468-pipe organ costs $2,000 a month, which the congregation helps pay for through rent.

The uncertainty hovering over the building's ownership in recent years has also made future planning difficult for the congregation, said Holmes.

The church sold the building to a non-profit group in 2013, but it ultimately fell into the hands of creditors who have been trying to sell it to new owners.

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There were even plans last summer to transform the building into a high-rise, but those plans fizzled out when the city declared the church a municipal heritage site, thus protecting its stained-glass windows and other features from the wrecking ball.

Still, "without the people knowing who's owning it, we've never been able to look at the future of our lease," said Holmes.

'Not enough people'

An 11-person, organ-accompanied choir sang during the church's 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday.

Among the 16 people listening in the pews was Warman resident Cathy Lindgren, who's been attending church at Third Avenue for 50 years.

"I have resigned myself to the fact that it's no longer ours and hasn't been for quite a while," she said.

"Whatever somebody decides to do with it, that's what will happen."

Dale Anderson, one of the building's current co-owners, says he is about to finalize a sale to a new owner who wants to preserve the building as a venue for public events.

"I absolutely love the setting. But we're not enough people for the size of the building," said Lindgren.

Her companion, Gordon Shoard, said "We're going to have to find another place to go."

Holmes says worshippers will miss the organ and the "ambiance of the interior."

"But I think the biggest thing they'll miss is the friendship of each other because it has always been a really close-knit congregation."