Confusion persists for Schoharie County Methodists losing churches

The Hyndsville United Methodist Church is one of three small Methodist churches in Schoharie County that is being closed. Its last service will be Sunday, Sept. 27. (Kyle Adams/Gazette Reporter)

The members of three small United Methodist Churches in Schoharie County are still feeling confused and frustrated as they prepare for their final services at the end of the month.

The churches in Mineral Springs, Hyndsville and Dorloo are being “discontinued” by the Oneonta District of the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church, with their last services to be held Sept. 27.

Although no specific reasons for the closures have been given, Methodist leaders have cited changing demographics and a broader strategy that focuses on outreach and expansion.

“We don’t want to be in survival mode. We need to shift out of that,” Oneonta District Superintendent Jan Rowell said in July. “A main focus of our ministry is to be bringing people into a relationship with God and Christ, so one of the factors that is a sign of our effectiveness, of our vitality, is to see how we’re doing with that, and to find more effective ways to do that.”

Four churches were originally considered for closure, but one of them, the Warnerville United Methodist Church, has been granted a reprieve contingent on boosting outreach efforts.

“They were given some expectations, requirements about what they needed to have in place for leadership, some training that they need to participate in and some other kinds of things,” Rowell said earlier this month. “And they’re doing that, they’re working very hard on that. They have a new Facebook page and we’re excited to see the energy that they’re putting into that.”

Rowell said Hyndsville had been offered a similar reprieve, but declined.

Final notice

The churches, all well over 100 years old and none with more than 25 or so regular congregants, were notified of the impending closures in May and June. The news was met mostly with disbelief and bewilderment that has not been cleared up in the four months since.

“People are still trying to figure out why it’s happening because they just don’t feel they’ve had a good answer,” said Caye Perrotti, lay servant and worship leader at Mineral Springs. “But it is happening, that’s the reality of it.”

The Mineral Springs church has only about 15 regular members, Perrotti said, most of them elderly. One couple, both in their 90s, walks across the road every Sunday for church service.

“Once these doors are closed, they won’t be going anyplace, because they just aren’t up to it,” she said. “They can’t just go out and start looking for a new church.”

She said members of the church are not sure yet what they’ll do when the doors close for good. Rowell and other Methodist leaders have said they’re welcome to join other churches in the area, but the “discontinuance” process seems to have soured them on that option.

At Warnerville, lay minister Maxine Christman said she doesn’t expect any of them to join the congregation.

“The other people are very disillusioned and very hurt and very angry with the Methodists in general and the way they were treated,” she said. “So they don’t really want to participate in another Methodist church, at least not right now.”

Second chance

Warnerville averages about 20 members each week, according to Christman. As part of the reprieve, they’re working on being more active, being “more out there,” especially in terms of partnering with other churches in the area, she said.

Christman could not say much about the new requirements, however, as one of them is that church members do not write letters to newspapers or meet with the press.

The churches are all located within about 10 miles of one another, and in most cases are the last remaining community establishments in hamlets that long ago lost their post offices, general stores and gas stations.

“It’s a really sad time for Schoharie County because it’s not just affecting these three churches, it’s affecting a lot of people,” Perrotti said. “It’s affecting the whole community.”

Church leaders said in July that all four churches had been meeting their financial obligations to the conference and supporting their own operations.

Once the churches are closed, the properties can be sold by the conference. The money from the sale would go a New Beginnings fund, which is used to start new communities of faith, from a small Bible study group to a brand-new church.

In Mineral Springs, Perrotti said the congregation is having a private service Sunday, then holding an open service on Sept. 27, the church’s last day.

“We’re opening it up to the public to come and celebrate with us,” she said. “It’s going to be a time of celebration.”