An engineer's report on a Middlemarch church revealing the need for major earthquake-strengthening work has left a parish with a difficult decision.
St John's Presbyterian Church member Sam Dunn, of Middlemarch, said the parishioners held a meeting recently to discuss the engineer's report on the stone church.
''The report wasn't so flash. They reckon the church was 80% non-compliant and gave a cost estimate of $200,000 [for earthquake-strengthening].''
The community had to decide if it would buy the church or whether it should be sold. If it was sold, his family would travel to Dunedin or Outram for Sunday services, or investigate holding a service in a hall or a private house in Middlemarch.
''It would be good to see something still happening locally.''
Some people had shown interest in buying the church for private use, he said.
The biggest non-compliance issue was that the church had a rock foundation, not a reinforced concrete base, he said.
The church could also require steel bracing, either inside or outside, which could ''change the appearance of the church quite a bit'', he said.
The church was regularly used by six adults and three children and the church had no plan to disconnect the power, he said.
As a ''last ditch effort'' to get more people attending church, he had arranged for Hamilton man Jesse O'Brien, a contestant on The Amazing Race and NZ Idol, to perform at the Christmas service at the church as a departure from the traditional service.
St Chad's Anglican Church parishioner Kate Wilson said the parish's wood and roughcast church in Middlemarch passed the engineer's test.
The church could hold a service anytime but only opened on special occasions, such as weddings or funerals, because with only five regular parishioners it did not warrant a regular church service.
''You only need a few families to move out of the district and it can compromise your congregation quite remarkably.''
The church has switched off its power to avoid paying ''exorbitant'' line charges, which often made up the entire power bill, she said.
St Paul's Catholic Church parishioner Grattan O'Connell, of Middlemarch, said he was unsure if the church building had been tested by an engineer and the bishop had not been sent a report.
However, he doubted the wood and roughcast church would need earthquake strengthening.
''They don't have an issue with earthquake problems, not like your brick or stone buildings.''
He hoped it would be ''business as usual'' for the church.
''But in this day of age I don't know what the powers [that] be think.''
The church had two services a month and attracted up to eight parishioners; the power remained on, he said.
