A final farewell has been held for an institution that has been part of the Lumsden community for about 125 years.
A thanksgiving and secularisation service was held at All Saints Anglican Church on Sunday.
The first wooden building on the site was consecrated in 1890, and the second in August 1967.
Anglican Diocese of Dunedin Vicar-General the Rev Jan Clark and Southern Rural Chaplaincy archdeacon Barb Walker officiated at the service, which was attended by about 30 people.
"The church has been closed and it will be put up for sale."
The number of people attending the church had dwindled.
"There hasn’t been a service here for a long time and the people that have come are getting older."
It was not an easy decision to close the church but was for the best.
"Do you keep it open when it’s leaking and needs a lot of work?"
Congregation members would now be under the umbrella of the Southern Rural Chaplaincy.
"We’ll be going out and visiting these people, taking them communion, encouraging them [and] ringing them up on the phone.
"We’re looking at new ways of doing church in rural chaplaincy."
It was hoped in the new year meetings would be arranged.
In some of the towns where churches had been shut down services were still held.
During the sermon Rev Clark said as the seasons in people’s lives change new ways of doing things begin to evolve.
"Today we let go of a building that has blessed the lives of many people as they have journeyed with God.
"We offer thanks for what has been and we look to the future knowing God travels with us to unknown places."
The church community was in a time of moving into a new era.
"We let go of a part of our heritage and look to journeying with Christ in a new way."
