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Chinchilla United Methodist Church to close

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — For many years, the bell ringing in the Chinchilla United Methodist Church steeple signaled the start of worship services.

“Our church service used to be at 10 o’clock and a couple minutes to 10, the church bell would ring,” said longtime member Scott Thorpe. “The neighborhood would hear it and know … it was time for church.”

That bell is silent. While light spills from the colored stained glass windows, the pews once filled with people are sparse. Music from the choir no longer rings through the sanctuary.

The church is decorated for Christmas, with a tree, garland and Advent wreath at the altar and wreaths hanging on doors, signaling the start of a new liturgical year. But for the congregation, the church won’t see a new year. It will close by the end of this year. The last service will be Sunday.

The congregation voted to shutter the church off Layton Road in late October, with church leaders pointing to declining attendance as the reason. An average of 13 people attended worship services there last year, according to data from the United Methodist Church, although that number has been as low as seven.

The church’s administrative council discussed closing all year, but the vote was hard, Norma Winowich, the council’s chairperson, said this week.

“We have a lot of good memories there,” she said. “It was very difficult to decide to close.”

The church dates to 1818, when the first Methodist services were held in the township on a site across from present-day South Abington Elementary School on Northern Boulevard, according to a pamphlet detailing the church’s history. It then moved to the corner of present day Northern Boulevard and Holgate Street in 1900, then in 1924 to a location on Layton Road where Interstate 81 passes over the street. The current modern gothic building was dedicated in 1962, according to the pamphlet.

There was a time when the church was active. Longtime members shared recollections of standing-room-only services, a bus and radio ministry, music filling the building, youth activities, meals and holiday events such as Trunk or Treats and Easter egg hunts.

The church was a part of Thorpe’s life from the time he was a child, as his late father Harold Thorpe was the church’s longtime organist. His father, brother and sister-in-law are listed in a book of memorial contributions inside the church.

Giles Stanton, another longtime member, remembered the church had a softball team and Methodist Youth Fellowship. He used to play songs by musicians like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, the Booth Brothers and Glen Campbell.

“I usually tried to find something that was meaningful and had a poignant story,” he said. “I tried to find something that was a little more upbeat.”

For Christmas Eve services and some regular Sunday services, there were so many people that chairs had to be put up along the aisles and in the entranceway.

“Pews would always be filled,” Thorpe, the church’s treasurer, said. “It was your local church. All the neighbors would come here. It was a church for all.”

There was no Christmas Eve service at the church on Tuesday, as the church held a combined service with Waverly United Methodist Church.

In 1992, the year after Winowich, 67, joined, the church had just over 445 members, with nearly 130 people attending services, according to UMC data. But over the years, the congregation got older and fewer and fewer young people joined. The church had 29 members last year, UMC data shows. Most of those members are over 55 years.

“It slowly dwindled,” the older Winowich said.

The amount of money given to the church has also declined, with tithing as low as $200 a week, compared to more than $2,000 weekly in past years, Thorpe said.

The congregation tried to come up with new ways to bring in people and revenue. Those efforts included an “Adulting 101” lunch and learn series. The church also received revenue from Abington Christian Academy, which had rented space in the building for nine years.

In August, it sold the parsonage for $329,900, according to a deed filed with the county. But none of the efforts helped keep the church afloat.

“When your congregation dwindles down so low it’s very difficult to do things to try to generate more people and funds,” the older Winowich said.

She believes the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the church’s waning attendance, as there were more people that came to church before the pandemic hit in 2020.

The UMC Book of Discipline states a church is automatically transferred to the board of trustees of the conference the church is a part of if it closes. If the board chooses to sell the building, they are required to give consideration to other Methodist denominations and authorize the sale.

Matthew Shineman, director of communications for the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church, said the board hasn’t made a decision on the future of the building.

“The closure of any church is always a sad moment, but we can also take this time to appreciate and be thankful for the grateful ministry of the Chinchilla UMC and all its faithful parishioners,” he said.

The church isn’t the only church in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton district of the conference to close, as Asbury United Methodist Church in Scranton’s Green Ridge neighborhood and Noxen United Methodist Church are also in the process of shutting their doors by the end of the year, also because of declining enrollment.

Asbury UMC announced its intention to close after 148 years in late October in a Facebook post.

Abington Christian Academy, which serves students ages three years to eighth grade, is moving to Peckville Assembly of God, with classes starting Jan. 6, Principal Jan Wells said.

Winowich said people in the congregation weren’t emotional the day they voted to close the church, but some became emotional last Sunday. She expects there will be even more emotional this Sunday.

“I think it’s getting to people that have been coming to church every Sunday,” Winowich said.

As the church prepares to shutter its doors for good, Winowich takes comfort having fellow members.

“The church is just a building, the congregation is the church,” she said. “We all were very close and we can stay connected.”