After beginning the month with a celebration of their church, members of St. Andrew United Methodist in Homewood will close the doors a final time after a service Sunday. About 80 people closely tied to the church, including two former pastors, came out for the June 2 celebration to showcase accomplishments at St.
Andrew and share the congregation’s remembrances. The celebration also featured the return of a choir, which the church hasn’t had since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We reached out to as many former pastors and former members and children who are now adults who had grown up in the church, and it was very meaningful for all of us to hear all their stories,” said Mary Lee Hoganson, church council chairman and a member since 1987.
“We had a sharing and a brunch. We had two former pastors — HD Mitchell and Bonnie Campbell, who did the last part of her ministerial training with us. Both of them spoke as part of the message that morning.
” They kept the event light “because it was a celebration and we did not want it to feel like a wake. Perhaps at our last service it will feel that way,” she said, adding that a microphone in the fellowship area allowed people to share stories of the church, which formed in 1958 with 50 members. As they prepared to close their church after 66 years as a congregation, leaders at St.
Andrew United Methodist Church in Homewood opted to celebrate the church’s accomplishments at a service June 2 so the deconsecration.