United Church celebrates 80 years

By David Cooke

This October brings two anniversaries for Revelstoke United Church. October 31^st  marks 500 years since a German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed some papers to the door of a church in Wittenberg and began the Protestant Reformation, which is why, half a millennium later, we have eight churches in Revelstoke instead of just one.

October 14^th also marks 80 years since the United Church opened its building on MacKenzie Avenue. A community hub for eight decades, the church has faced the challenges in the changes that have shifted Revelstoke and Canadian society itself.

In 1937, the United Church of Canada’s membership totalled more than two million. Today, that number is about the same but Canada’s population has more than tripled. In days past everyone went to one church or another and the churches provided a myriad of social services, including youth groups and the United Church’s own Kindergarten class.

Now nearly 25% of Canadians say they have no religion, popular activities for youth have shifted to sports (many of which happen on Sunday mornings), and the volunteers who formed the backbone of the church’s ministry over the years have grown older, retired, and the church has felt keenly the loss of every long-time member who gave so much.

Revelstoke too has changed, to an economy focused on leisure and tourism, with many people here only for a season before moving on. Even those who do attend church regularly have a hard time resisting the call of the powder on Sunday morning.

The downtown community garden is located a the Revelstoke United Church. Photo:Revelstoke United Church.

All of this has been frustrating for a church that brands itself as offering an inclusive version of Christianity, but the church’s response has been to reach outward rather than close inward. In the weekly “Soup and a Smile” program that runs during the winter months, in the catering for funerals done by the United Church Women, in the community garden, even in the building itself which provides space for many community groups and events such as the Coffee House, and in many other kinds of outreach, it doesn’t matter if a person believes in God, the church’s job is to serve. The church desires to be doing even more, but this is more difficult when there are fewer people to do it with.

It is hard to say whether 80 years ago people like Andrew Clark, Dorothea Lundell, and Rev. E. Henry, who broke the ground on the new building, could have foreseen the changes in Canada and Revelstoke. It is also hard to say whether they would have conceived of the United Church’s dramatic shifts on the inclusion of women and LGBTQ people. Perhaps, though, they would still recognize the ideals of service and charity as unmistakably Revelstoke United Church.

Whatever the challenges, this October is certainly a milestone for the United Church and one worth celebrating.