Members of Augsburg Lutheran Church are preparing to shut the church’s doors for the last time on Jan. 8. But another set of doors — and many arms inside them — will be wide open at Faith United Lutheran Church when the West Toledo neighbors merge on Jan. 15.
“Our hope is that strength in numbers,” said Heather Meyer, a council member at Augsburg, where the roughly 30-person congregation voted in September to close in response to dwindling church attendance and a difficult financial situation.
Augsburg’s congregation first met in 1914 above a meat market where Boyd’s Retro Candy Store now sits on West Sylvania Avenue. The church building, just half-mile down the street, was dedicated in 1922.
The church’s final Sunday worship service will be at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 8 at 1342 W. Sylvania Ave., Toledo. On Jan. 15, Faith United will officially welcome Augsburg’s members in their first joint worship service at 10 a.m. at 4543 Douglas Rd., Toledo.
“We have all hands on deck to make sure that we can welcome in and they can really get a chance to just be embraced by everybody,” said Donna Morrin, president of the Faith United church council.
A history of consolidation
Members of Faith United aren’t strangers to change.
Augsburg, along with Reformation Lutheran Church and Bethany Lutheran Church, were once considered sister churches. In January, 2019, Reformation and Bethany dissolved and formed a new church: Faith United.
Whereas the creation of Faith United was a consolidation of two congregations, with Augsburg, it’s considered an adoptive merger. Augsburg’s members will just be transferring their membership to a different church.
Ms. Morrin said she knew from the start that they couldn't change the church name again.
“We can't form another new church. I don't think we would have survived that,” she said. “When you have a church that changes and then changes and then changes, I think that's almost a death sentence.
“We can't show inconsistency. We need the community to know that we're still here. We're still Faith United,” Ms. Morrin continued. “The name says it all; where we're united, we're here for anybody.”
A pandemic push
When Faith United was formed, the two churches “would have been fine” had they not merged, Ms. Morrin said. Neither congregation was facing an imminent closure.
But for Augsburg, something needed to be done.
The underlying cause is low church attendance. It’s a trend council members have seen across Lutheran churches locally and churches across the nation. When Augsburg brought back in-person worship services after the peak of the pandemic, it was “never back to pre-pandemic numbers, which were already down,” council member Morgan Spitler said. Currently, 25 to 30 people attend weekly services, down from around 45 before 2020.
But the pandemic only sped up the inevitable by a year or two, she continued. Attendance at Augsburg had been declining since hitting its peak membership of 2,000 around 1970. But the decline has been more drastic in the past decade.
As attendance declined, so did the church’s income, meaning it wasn’t meeting its financial goals and had to tap into savings to cover operating costs.
The council realized it had a decision to make.
“We were looking at it as what is good stewardship for this building, for the money that we still have … and for our members,” Ms. Spitler said. “Ultimately [the congregation] agreed with our decision that it was better to come up with a plan and close our doors with dignity … versus just closing the doors whenever it happens.”
A few parishioners had voted to stay open until the money ran out, in hopes there would be an influx of membership and they’d find a new pastor. But having lost their pastor in the spring of 2022, other staff members, and the need for building repairs, many knew the direction they needed to go. Ms. Spitler added that “it would have been more painful for people to not have the time to grieve.”
An emotional transition
Augsburg’s self-described “lifers” compared this experience to selling a family home, both emotionally and logistically.
While they may be at work clearing out the basement and less-used spaces, the nave of the church looks as expected. It not only keeps the space welcoming, but Ms. Meyer said “you can’t move out till you’ve moved out.” The church council will continue the process of clearing the space after the final service.
Faith United asked that an Augsburg member volunteer to serve on the church council beginning this month. While there’s an expectation among some congregants that one of the current council members will step up, they don’t feel ready to take on that responsibility.
“There will still be unfinished business that needs to be taken care of here,” council member Lynne Jacobson said. “We made that commitment to stay intact and help out and to finish the business of this church before we take that on.”
And, vice president Katie Breier added, “We’re exhausted. We really are exhausted.”
“There hasn't been a chance to breathe,” council president Katy Pushka added.
“We are looking forward to just being,” Ms. Meyer said. “To be able to rest, to be able to be, to be able to just worship.”
Reflecting on the closure, council members said it still doesn’t feel real.
“There have certainly been times of melancholy. It seems to sneak up on us,” Ms. Meyer said.
Though it’s been “unbelievably hard,” the decision feels like the right thing to do.
Faith United’s Ms. Morrin can relate, having experienced the same emotions with her church’s merger in 2019.
“The best way I could describe it is a really, really bad breakup,” she said of having to shut a church’s doors. “You're losing something that's been such a close part of your life, so you go through the same grieving processes.”
Her job as council president during this time, alongside housekeeping and paperwork, has involved providing emotional support for both congregations.
Looking back, Ms. Morrin said the Bethany and Reformation churches weren’t prepared for how hard the change would be emotionally. “So going into this, I knew that had to be my focus,” she said. “My focus had to be to support them and to be there for whatever hard emotional times.”
Faith United hosted an open house for Augsburg members to familiarize themselves with the space and learn about programs the church hosts. They’ll set up a wall commemorating the three original churches. And they’ve invited Augsburg’s council to sit in on meetings to better prepare both congregations.
“They were very mindful … when they came through, asking the question, ‘What would your parishioners want to see when they come to worship? How can we make it feel like home to them?’” Ms. Meyer recalled. “It shows me that they're ready. We may be reluctant and still mourning, but I think they're going to meet us wherever we are.”
Both churches have received support and comfort from Frank Weaver. He’s a parishioner at Faith United and has led services at Augsburg since their pastor left. His sermons at Augsburg touch on the church’s period of transition.
“When he’s up in the pulpit,” Ms. Meyer said, “he’s preparing our hearts, slowly, delicately.”
While looking to the end may be hard now, the transition to the new will be just as challenging, Ms. Morrin said.
“Six to 12 months is when the hard work happens … making everyone kind of that blended family,” she said. “I have faith, though, we’ve done it once, we can do it again.”
Contact Sarah Readdean at: sreaddean@theblade.com.
First Published December 31, 2022, 3:30 p.m.
