Minnesota church shows senior worshipers the door to make it more attractive to younger parishioners
Old parishioners have been asked to leave by a struggling Minnesota church as they plan to rebrand by making themselves more attractive to young families. Grove United Methodist Church in the St. Paul suburb of Cottage Grove is closing in June and plans to reopen in November. According to St. Paul Pioneer Press, most of the church's present members are over 60 years old, and they will be invited to worship elsewhere for a period of two years. They will then have to consult the pastor about reapplying.
“I pray for this church, getting through this age-discrimination thing,” William Gackstetter said at church after a recent Sunday service as his contemporaries nodded in agreement.
However, church officials have maintained the congregation has no choice but to appeal to younger people as they desperately need to rebrand.
In 2008, the Grove United Methodist Church was formed after merging with a larger church in Woodbury. Of late, it has struggled with membership and finances.
Methodist officials had revealed seven years ago the church could no longer pay for its minister, and so they switched to laying off the ministry and having weekly sermons by members instead. That said, the church's attendance and finances have now stabilized with an average weekly attendance of about 25.
But Rev. Dan Wetterstrom, head of the two-location Grove church, noted how Cottage Grove is growing quickly and the church should be growing at par.
Wetterstrom said the Methodists' regional body is paying $250,000 to restart the church. Officials have since hired 30-year-old Jeremy Peters, a specialist in starting new churches, for the revamp. Peters moved to Cottage Grove with his wife and two kids for the relaunch scheduled for November.
“It’s a new thing with a new mission for a new target and a new culture,” he said.
While older members will not be physically barred from entering the church, Peters expects that they won't attend anyway.
“We are asking them to let this happen,” Wetterstrom said. “For this to be truly new, we can’t have the core group of 30 people. The members of the church have other options. They can come to Woodbury during this phase.”