Pilgrim United Church members will vote March 3 on whether to disband the congregation.
“No decision has been made and nothing will be declared until after the vote,” said Treena Duncan, acting executive secretary of The British Columbia Conference of The United Church of Canada. “We want the congregation to have to have the freedom to wrestle with the decision.”
Only active members of the Painter Road congregation will be able to vote. There needs to be a quorum within the congregation for all property decisions.
“Given the time we are living in, a number of congregations are struggling with dropped attendance and stretched finances,” Duncan said.
Memberships within The United Church of Canada have been dropping since 1965.
“People are very emotionally attached to their congregations. Their children were baptized there and they’ve had family funerals there. People have strong emotional and spiritual ties with their church,” Duncan said.
Members of Pilgrim United Church would not comment.
