The church is no longer used for weekly worship and the last service there was at Easter, when it was the gathering point after an ecumenical pilgrimage around the three churches - Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian - in the town.
However, it has now become too costly for the church to continue to maintain the building by itself and its future is being considered under a proposal to consolidate churches within the Maheno-Otepopo Presbyterian parish.
The chairwoman of the parish's board of management, Joan Sutherland, said yesterday the Hampden church was no longer needed for regular worship.
"We want to know if the community can retain it as a community or ecumenical facility," she said.
A diminishing parish membership could not maintain the six Presbyterian churches - at Hampden, Herbert, Maheno, Kakanui, Kauru Hill and Five Forks.
Apart from the regular weekly service at Herbert, other churches are used only for special occasions, such as funerals or weddings.
Already, the Five Forks church is leased as a playcentre and a community group is investigating maintaining the church at Kakanui.
