A listening session for the four United Methodist Churches facing closure ended up making no one happy.
More than 100 members and friends of the Hyndsville, Warnerville, Dorloo, and Mineral Springs congregations turned out for the session with Bishop Mark Webb and Rev. Jan Rowell of the Upper New York Conference last Tuesday in Hyndsville.
Louis Brumaghim, a 62-year member of the church, rang the crowd in for what could be one of the last times.
Because while questions and concerns are unchanged since the congregations learned in June that they were no longer considered viable by the Conference and would be "discontinued," two of the four-Warnerville and Hyndsville--have been offered reprieves.
Warnerville said yes.
Hyndsville, still undecided, expects to vote on theirs tonight
Lonnie Odell, a member of the Warnerville congregation, said Thursday that they've agreed to work with the Conference to address shortcomings-though it's unclear what that will involve.
"It's definitely with some reluctance," Mr. Odell said. "They should have come to the churches before all of this. Basically, we've gotten a reprieve, time to prove to them that we can do what they want us to do."
However, Fran Sossei, also from Warnerville, expressed concerns Tuesday that they were only being set up for failure.
"I'm concerned that we may not be able to get to the numbers you have in mind," she told Bishop Webb and Rev. Rowell.
"I'm very suspicious that the sincerity and commitment aren't there...I think we're viable [the way we are]."
In an email Wednesday, Rev. Rowell said the Conference is still establishing benchmarks, goals, and a timetable for the reprieves.
However, some of the shortcomings identified in previous meetings include too few professions of faith and too few baptisms.
Members of the Dorloo congregation stood Tuesday as Gary David read a statement that "a vote was taken, and it was unanimously decided against abandonment and discontinuance."
That vote was based in part on information on the Conference website that the Conference does not close churches.
The website is wrong, Bishop Webb said.
"Our goal is always to try to keep churches open, but we can recommend that churches discontinue," he said.
Linda and Richard Bean who run a motorcycle ministry, but call Dorloo home, spoke of the church's importance.
"We don't want a Dollar General in place of our church," said Ms. Bean. "That's what happened down the road" [to Saint Mary's, a Catholic church in Sharon Springs.]
"Please help us. Don't close us," said a tearful Sue Davis of Dorloo.
"What's the hurry," asked David Houck, lay leader in Hynsdville. "Do we need to take another look?"
Mineral Springs had been hoping to shut its doors on its own terms, said Lay Leader Caye Perrotti.
"We're an elderly population and we know it," Ms. Perrotti said Thursday.
"We thought at least we had two more years to phase out gracefully. My heart breaks for these people. These churches are supposed to be places of comfort-not chaos."
A meeting of the 15 other Schoharie County UMC churches in Cobleskill followed Hyndsville's.
Though not invited, about a dozen from the Hyndsville, Warnerville, Dorloo, and Mineral Springs congregations attended; nearly all have said if their churches close, they won't be attending services anywhere else.
There has been some talk of establishing new churches-allowed, Bishop Webb said, but the church property and assets stay behind.
Those assets, Rev. Rowell said, will stay local as part of a Schoharie Regional Ministry Plan which will fund new ministries through grants.
The church buildings could be re-purposed as places for people to come for things like clothing, food, and counseling, Bishop Webb said.