The church will be sold after being farewelled at a special church service on Sunday, March 24 - 111 years and one day after it opened.
The church, St Ninian's, is part of the Columba and Waiareka-Weston Presbyterian Parish, which will retain and use three other churches - Columba in Oamaru and churches at Weston and Enfield.
However, the decision has been made to close the church, not from a lack of congregation, but because of operating, insurance and now earthquake-strengthening costs, parish minister the Rev Nancy Parker said.
''It is a beautiful little church and it is with regret that the time has come for its closure,'' she said.
Proceeds from the sale would be retained by the parish, set aside for earthquake strengthening needed at other churches.
Mrs Parker said Totara Church had services on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Usually between 30 and 40 people were in the congregation.
However, the church would need upgrading in the future - it also had no toilets or water - and it was decided to focus on the other three buildings.
''Closing the Totara church is not about dying. There is great hope for the future as Waiareka Weston worships in one place,'' she said.
The church, with a large area for worship and a room at the back, sits on SH1 just south of the Totara School. A 2.42ha paddock next to the church is leased to a market garden.
Mrs Parker said the normal 9am service with communion would be held on March 24, then a thanksgiving and closure service, followed by afternoon tea, at 2pm.
An extra 9am, twice-a-month service would be held at Weston Church to replace those at Totara.
The first church services in the area were conducted at the Totara Estate homestead, just south of the present church, in 1869. When the Totara School was built in 1883, services and a Sunday school were conducted there.
The Totara Church was then built on its present site, opening on March 23, 1902, the Rev J. Skinner conducting services.
Mr Skinner planted macrocarpa seedings around the boundary, creating the hedge which still exists today.
The church celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1952.
In 1953 a magnificent oak christening font, made by J. McCracken and Son, was presented to the church by Rachel Doak, in memory of her mother and father, Robert and Agnes Doak, and their son William who was killed in 1917 in World War 1.
The church also has a large, impressive wooden altar table.
Mrs Parker said both would be retained by the parish and used in other churches.
