Moving out: Trinity United vacates 111-year-old church
Congregation was starting to find it hard to maintain landmark building
KITCHENER — The sign in front of Trinity United Church capped off the downtown church’s proud history in the briefest of ways. “We’re Moving,” it simply said.
Moving vans were parked out front on Thursday, loading up with boxes and memories as the 176-year-old congregation prepares for a new stage in its life.
This Sunday, church members will walk in procession for the three blocks down Frederick Street to its new temporary home, the chapel it is leasing from St. Matthews Lutheran Church. They’ll be carrying sacred items such as the brass baptismal font, the church Bible and the two-metre cross that hung until recently in the sanctuary of the red brick church.
There is grieving for the loss of a building that holds so many memories, said Katherine Bitzer, chair of the church’s board, who was married at the church and baptized her kids there. But there is also hope and joy.
“We’re very excited to be finally packing our bags. It’s a very historic moment in the history of our church. We are turning the page. We are starting a new chapter in Trinity’s story.”
The 1906 church at 74 Frederick St. is in a prime downtown location, steps from an LRT stop and across the street from the provincial courthouse.
But like many congregations, Trinity has struggled to maintain its aging church.
“This building has been a burden for our congregation for quite a number of years,” Bitzer said. “We don’t want to spend our time talking about boilers and plumbing and roofs. We want to talk about mission and community and service.”
The church has about 200 members and supporters, but sees about 50 to 60 people on a typical Sunday.
Trinity has been working for years to come up with a workable plan to redevelop its site. It had hoped it could find a buyer who would be interested in its vision of a new building that could accommodate new uses, but also provide some affordable housing and a worship space that could double as community space when the church didn’t need it.
It put the property up for sale in January, but in July the congregation voted to sell the property unconditionally, abandoning its vision for a progressive redevelopment of the site.
Instead, it will lease the chapel at St. Matthews for two to three years, then move to more permanent quarters. Trinity may well pursue its vision of shared space and affordable housing in that new location, said Keith Summers, the church’s communications co-ordinator.
“The congregation’s commitment to the downtown core and social outreach in the downtown core remains very strong,” Bitzer said.
The sale of the Frederick Street site is still not final, so Trinity can’t say much about future plans for the property, but the church will be demolished at some point.
The congregation will lease the site from the new owner for several months, which gives it time to remove precious assets such as the church’s 32 stained glass windows, its carved wooden pews, and its huge Casavant pipe organ, and store them safely.
“The stained glass windows are sacred works of art; the organ is magnificent. We’re not going to let those things go down with the building or be sold. Those are going to find new life,” Bitzer said.
The church’s transition minister, Bill Bruce, is helping Trinity manage all the change.
Church, he stressed, isn’t about a particular building or a single hour each Sunday when the congregation gathers, but about a community of faith that shares a mission.
“There will be challenges, I don’t doubt.” Bitzer says. “But it’s exciting. If you don’t go through the wilderness, you don’t get to the promised land.”