There will be many final refrains sung, prayed said and memories spoken of with bittersweet emotion this weekend as the First Presbyterian Church of Greenfield dissolves Sunday, ending a 148-year history in the community.

The church has faced declining participation for quite some time. Current attenders say that 10 people attend worship on a good Sunday.

This closes the church’s chapter as a congregation, however there are deep, hopeful and sure expectations that the church’s reach locally and globally will carry on in a new form going forward.

A closing worship service will be 3 p.m. Sunday, April 24 at the church, 102 SW Kent Street, Greenfield. Current and past church leaders and members are scheduled to be a part of the celebration of nearly 150 years of ministry the congregation has lived. The community is invited to attend and take part. Refreshments will follow.

A sub-board of the Greater Greenfield Foundation is being formed that will carry on work and causes that the church has been a part of over the years.

“Which is a form of resurrection,” Pastor Dave Kincaide said. “We’re closing the Sunday after Easter. Our bodies, scripture says, aren’t going to be what they are now in the resurrection. I see the ministry of the church carrying on in the same way, but in a different form. While the organization of the church is closing, we are, in a sense, carrying on in a different form.”

Then there was one

According to its centennial history produced in 1974, First Presbyterian Church was organized May 17, 1874 and incorporated a few weeks later.

Another Presbyterian congregation, possibly based just north of the Greenfield square, struggled to take flight in the community after it started in 1878. Membership of that congregation grew to about 65, but then it had dwindled to around 33 by 1913, and the church dissolved that year.

The part of FPC’s building that is now its sanctuary was built in 1884. In 1914, the congregation bought the building that once housed the other Presbyterian congregation, and that building was moved to First Presbyterian. They connected that building to their sanctuary and it was brought to life each Sunday by generations of children during the Sunday School hour.

Twenty-four pastors have served First Presbyterian. Kincaide has served the longest. He began in 1990.

Longtime members

Siblings Gary Heibuch and Cindy Armstrong have been members of the church for all of their adult lives with their spouses, Lynn and Pat, respectively. Gary and Cindy grew up in the church.

Gary was 5 years old when his formerly-Lutheran mother and formerly-Methodist father decided to become Presbyterians.

Cindy had played the piano since age 7. A year after she married Pat in 1979, Rev. Wayne Norris, who served the church for 23 years starting in 1966, said the church would pay for her organ lessons if she’d be willing to play for the Sunday service.

“It was September 1980 when I started playing, but I had substituted before on piano,” Cindy said. “The gal who had been playing was Elnora Hoyt. If I needed someone to fill in for me, sweet Elnora would if I needed time off while she was still here.”

Cindy has been the organist to this day.

‘The really good stories’

Hoyt was the aunt of Ed Sidey, a member of the congregation and famous for his role as Adair County Free Press editor. The Armstrongs and Heinbuchs both remember Dorothy Sidey, Ed’s late wife, leading the choir of the church. Later Ed would.

“Here’s the thing: the people with all the really good stories are all gone, like Ed Sidey, Wayne and Joyce Ray, and those longtime members who had the really good memories of this church,” Lynn Heinbuch said.

When the Rays got married, the church basement, which now has expansive space for meetings or other activities, was not yet finished. In fact, it was in the process of being finished.

“There was no basement in the north part, it was just a pathway surrounded by dirt that led to the stairs that come back up,” Pat remembers. “They had to come through that when they got married. They walked through that dirt path to get up to where they came in.”

Recent highlights

More recent highlights are successful Vacation Bible Schools the congregation held up until several years ago.

“They used to take pictures of all the kids out on the front steps,” Gary said. “They were full.”

For many years, the church would hold a Service By the Sea, taking their Sunday service and a brunch to Lake Greenfield.

“I think there’s only been one or two where, because of excessive heat or excessive rain, we’ve said let’s do it in the church basement,” Kincaide said.

Since 2005, the Greenfield church has shared some ministries with the First Presbyterian Church of Dexter, where Kincaide also pastors. The congregations have shared Holy Week services at times and done other activities together.

The church was very successful in hosting RAGBRAI in Greenfield twice, experiencing very long lines for their food, even having to turn some away. The last time, the church served over 700 people.

One of the widest reaching ministries the church has ever participated in is the blanket ministry through Church World Service. Despite its small attendance in recent years, FPC has been recognized multiple times for its giving level to that ministry per capita. The church has given over $16,000 through the years to the blanket ministry.

“Even this past year, our giving to that was $600. What this does is it provides blankets for people who are in situations, like they might be refugees, might be in situations of homelessness or natural disasters. Over the years they expanded the program to include other things, like providing sewing machines to women in impoverished countries so they can make a living or giving hoes or shovels to people so they can make their own lives better.”

There are numerous ministries and initiatives that could be mentioned. There are many womens groups that could be told of, world missions trips that were experienced, candlelight Christmas Eve services, and more.

What Lynn will remember the most are the relationships that have been sewn through the years.

“Everyone has such great affection and love for one another,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t find that in churches — you have infighting, or whatever — but that’s never been the case here. It’s always been a close-knit church. Even though there’s only a handful of us who attend every Sunday, that’s why and how we’ve done it, because we have great regard for the people and the ministry of the church.”

A new chapter

Gary and Lynn Heinbuch’s daughter, Jennifer Garside of Greenfield, has many memories of growing up attending First Presbyterian Church, but now she’s putting on a new hat as a member of the Greater Greenfield Foundation.

“Closing a church with almost 150 years of history is sad, but as a board member of the Greater Greenfield Foundation that is taking ownership of the building, it’s bittersweet,” Garside said. “I’m trying to concentrate of the fact that while one chapter is closing, this is a chance for the building and its missions to continue.”

Garside said the foundation is not only getting the building, but a large endowment that will continue missions the church has always carried out to impact the local area and beyond. The church building will also continue to house the hygiene pantry, which will be overseen by the foundation and staffed by volunteers from other churches.

“We’re still figuring out what the building will be used for, but currently we already have several dates rented out to civic and youth groups,” Garside said. “It’s important to relay we aren’t trying to take away anything from current event venues. We’re filling a niche that isn’t being served currently for that mid-range group where some places are too small and others are too big.”

A Facebook page has been started for the Greater Greenfield Foundation. All activities, like the latest on the FPC building or scholarship and grant opportunities, can be found there.

“The main thing is that these things [we’ve done], they spring from a deep faith among our people,” Kincaide said. “We have very faithful people.”