Returning to Our Roots

 Returning to Our Roots (CAC 12/2/2022)

This idea of returning to the source inspiration for a church or movement as a way of revitalization is particularly interesting to me right now, as our church home for the past 24 years just had its final service last Sunday. After 115 years in ministry, a small group of 21 people who remained voted to close.

What was this church's roots and why was it started? The history that has been collected does not give much information, except that in 1907 a Swedish Evangelical Covenant pastor felt that a Swedish church should be started in our area, and it began with around a dozen people. When we arrived in 1998 there was still a core group of Swedish descendants there, but over our years that group dwindled to about 3 or 4 people. 

In the last ten years or so the church has undergone three major efforts to revitalize, and I was part of all of them. I found it remarkable then that we were never able to find a unifying purpose for existence, other than to just be a church. This has caused me more consternation than just about anything else.

This call to return to one's roots leaves me wondering if our church closed because our fundamental reason for existence was to be a Swedish church, but very few Swedes attend or want to attend anymore (and we no longer have services in Swedish nor keep Swedish traditions like Lucia). It's almost like we couldn't find a reason other than that one, and that one was no longer valid.