Garfield (Whitman County), Washington
Story from 5/23/2017 Whitman County (Colfax) Gazette. Photos from 1999 of Garfield UMC provided by Jim Storms. Art work of Garfield UMC provided by Mary Ann Storms.
Garfield Methodist Church to close Sunday after 137 years: The last service
By Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter, May 23, 2018
On Sunday, the Garfield Methodist Church will hold a service for the last time.
Founded in 1881 with a circuit preacher visiting private homes, the Garfield church got its first pastor six years later. The congregation bought land and the current church on Second Street was built in 1906.
Peggy Ray, its 63rd pastor, will lead the final service at 10:30 a.m. May 27.
Afterwards, the church will close with religious items removed and a de-consecration performed. The Town of Garfield has agreed to buy the building for $1 to use it as an auditorium for public events.
“I think it’s sad that it’s closing but I’m pleased that the building will be used, and still be an asset to the community,” said Ray.
With the closing of the church, she will retire after nine years as pastor.“I’m 79, it’s time to retire,” Ray said. “I was hopeful they would be able to continue after me. But that didn’t seem so reasonable after the last year. Basically the church is not in a position to replace me.”
The tall, brick Garfield building has a regular capacity of 100 people. Its closing is permitted by the larger United Methodist organization.
“It’s the culmination of a long process,” said Rev. Greg Sealey, supervisor for the United Methodist Church Inland District encompassing the Eastern half of Eastern Washington and part of the Idaho panhandle.
“A church generally decides for themselves, that they don’t have the money or energy to continue. Organizations, like organisms, often have a life cycle.”
The Garfield location is the only church in Sealey’s zone now closing, after two did last year, in White Bird, Idaho, and Wild Rose, an unincorporated area by Deer Park.“A church closing doesn’t mean a church has failed. They did good work and they lived out their purpose,” Sealey said.
From 2007 to 2009, a drop in congregants in Garfield occurred after the Methodist church’s last full-time pastor left.
“We had about 30 people on Sundays when the Osveds were here,” said Mary Ann Storms, a member since 1970, referring to Pastor Joel Osved and his family. “Then it dwindled to 15 and 10 and five.”
Rev. Ray has served as a quarter-time pastor.
“I didn’t think seriously about closing until about a year ago,” she said.
In January, the church went to an every-other-Sunday format, due to its low numbers and to allow a chance for congregants to visit other churches. The Seedlings Child Care Center, started by the church and Garfield School in 2012, will continue on the church’s lower floor.
Sealey will be on site Sunday to perform the de-consecration rite. As a consecration opened the church 7,100 Sundays ago, this will mark its conclusion.
“We have a service to celebrate all the work the church has done,” Sealey said. He and local church members will also remove hymnals, religious symbols and other imagery, including the cross and flame logos of the Methodist Church, to prepare for the handover to the town.
“The conference doesn’t want the church back, they’ve got other empty churches,” said Storms.
Ray plans for the final service to include a wide selection of favorite hymns from remaining congregation and time for shared memories.
“Just like a lot of churches, the population dwindles and young people are not going to church like they used to,” said Storms, who will now drive to Colfax on Sundays. “This winter it got down to too few of us to make it viable. We’ve got younger people that don’t go to church. My kids don’t go to church.”
Garfield Methodist was known for its large choir in the early- and mid-1900s, with instrumental accompaniments. They lost their last organist/choir director at the end of 2014 when Janet Foley moved to California.
“It’s acoustically perfect,” said Ray of the building. “It’s a good size for the community.”
Garfield will now have two churches remaining in town; Garfield Christian Fellowship and Garfield Community Church.
“It’s never one thing that closes a church,” Sealey said. “There has been a shift in our larger culture. It used to be everyone went to church. Younger people, in the smaller towns, there’s not a lot of jobs for them. That’s a challenging place to have a church.”