Rural Waimate church deconsecrated
A rural Waimate congregation gave a final farewell to their former place of worship this week as the price to keep the doors open had become unfeasible.
On Monday St Michael’s Church at Waihao Downs, a 10-minute drive from Waimate, was deconsecrated after the cost to strengthen the earthquake-prone building became too high.
Bishop of Christchurch Victoria Matthews was there to perform the ceremony in front of 39 attendees from Waimate, Timaru and Dunedin.
Reverend Indrea Alexander, who heads Waimate’s AnglicanPresbyterian parish, said the deconsecration was symbolic to the church as it meant the building was no longer a place of God.
‘‘It means the building, a place that was set apart as a sacred place, has been returned to the ordinary.’’
The church served as a hub for the mostly rural-based worshippers and held a special place for many who were preceded by their parents as worshippers there, she said.
Alexander said in 2011 St Michael’s was assessed at below 33 per cent of the new building standard, with $440,000 required for remedial work to bring it up to that standard.
In 2013 the decision was made not to pay for earthquake strengthening.
The congregation was made up of Anglican and Presbyterian parishioners.
They had worshipped in the Waihao Valley Presbyterian Church for the past six years, since the closure of St Michael’s, she said.
When the church was built in 1924 it was still just a building until it was consecrated by Bishop Campbell West-Watson in 1938.
‘‘It served the rural community and was built with the love of the local people and their money.’’
Alexander said locals initially thought St Michael’s should be sold for private use, perhaps as a house, but a special meeting of locals and members in 2016 recommended it be demolished.
The church has been emptied, with many special items continuing to be used by the parish.
When demolition begins the stained glass windows will return to the Richards family, who donated them. The date of the church’s demolition was yet to be confirmed by Diocesan Church Property Trustees, she said.