The Advent Lutheran Church recently celebrated its 50th anniversary; from its humble beginnings of holding services in the high school gymnasium, to now sharing ministry with the St. John's United Church, the Advent Lutheran Church of Thompson has a rich history.
Dec. 9 marked the official 50th anniversary of the first worship that was presided by Pastor Harold E. Koch back in 1962 at what was at that time the Thompson High School gym.
Ninety-five people showed up to the first worship service, and what the last two remaining charter members Sya Gregovski and Dolores Robertson wouldn't give to have numbers like that today.
Church attendance has dipped at the Advent Lutheran Church, which prompted to church's move to share ministry with the St. John's United Church.
"The reason we've made this move, and this is the bad part, is that we're a dying church, people are not coming to church," said Gregovski.
The Advent Lutheran Church has been operating on a two-eek rotation with the United Church, with two Sundays at the Lutheran Church building and two Sundays at St. John', with the shared services of Rev. Leslie King.
The likely scenario is that the Lutheran congregation will eventually be moved in full time with St. John's United Church, as the Lutheran Church's building at 179 Thompson Dr. N where it has stood since 1964 and the attached land will be for sale.
Carl Nesbitt, the Local Government District of Mystery (LGD) resident administrator in 1964, donated the land to the church, and construction began in October 1964. The building was filled with 60 carolers on Christmas Eve 1964 in temperatures of -35 C.
Easter Sunday on April 18, 1965 was the first service of worship in the actual church building.
Little by little in recent years, the church has seen less and less people making it out for Sunday worship services, which in turn has created some cash flow issues.
"This isn't really a unique thing," said Gregovski, "many people have moved, though there are still a lot of people here, it's just that worship is not that important to people any more."
Dolores Robertson followed up Gregovski's comments, saying that it becomes expensive to run a building without as much support from the community.
"You can't operate a building when you've got to heat two storeys and you only have about half a dozen people," said Robertson.
If the building is sold, because the Advent Lutheran Church is still a congregation, all of the money will go back to the church to decide what they want to do with it.
"There has been some talk that if this happens, we should make a donation to the city because they've given us support for 50 years," said Gregovski.
The Advent Lutheran Church will be taking up residence at St. John's United Church before moving worship services back to their own building after Easter.
