Local Churches

[jay]

The parking lot was plowed.

[Towntalk]

If the church didn't have the decency to clean the sidewalk around their church, what condition is their parking lot in? They are certainly proving that they aren't good neighbors, but this was to be expected.

[Towntalk]

Most likely they never thought of hiring a caretaker for the church, and I tremble to think about what is going to happen to  that magnificant pipe organ that is in the sancuary. Those organs need care, and I doubt that the new group has anyone who knows the proper care of a pipe organ.

[jay]

I drove past the church this morning.  None of the snow has been removed from the public sidewalks around the church. 

[Towntalk]

Thanks Jay.  My family belonged to Mahoning United Methodist Church when we lived on the West Side. I loved that church and was very active in the choir along with my Mother. That is a huge building, and when we were going there, there were over 1000 members. There were 50 people in the Senior Choir. When thenew wing of the church was built it was built to seat 1000 people in the Sancuary and also had a smaller Chapel that seated about 200 people, and then there were classrooms and a kitchen.

[jay]

I pass this church a few times each week.  I'll let you know if things start to change.

[Towntalk]

We have been seeing a growing number of churches closing because of shrinking membership and the inability of the smaller congregations to finance the upkeep of their church building. The Mahoning United Methodust Church on Mahoning Avenue had to sell their building for this very reason, and while a former East Side congregation bought the building which is three times as large as their former building which burnt to the ground in a fire. Just how large a membership does this new group have? Judging by reports, it is a small congregation, with a membership that is in the lower middle class to poverty level. In the long run, can they maintain the upkeep of the church, or will they discover that they bit off more thanthey can chew.
The case of the church building that burnt to the ground on the South Side is an example of a very small congregation buying an oversized building then walking away from it when they could no longer afford the upkeep.
The upkeep on the former Mahoning United Methodust Church is going to be tremendous just for the heat, electric and water which means that the offering plates are going to have to be consistently full, because there will be no outside financial help coming in.