KENMORE, N.Y. (WKBW) — At 11am on Sunday morning, pews at St. Marks Lutheran church are full of Presbyterians. Two denominations working together to keep faith alive in WNY.
"Yes, I'm thrilled with that and I hope more of us can do it...Bring us together in the name of God," said Helen Duchene, pianist and a member of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church since 1991.
When she joined, there were hundreds filling the pews, but in recent years it's gone down. So she was invigorated by the addition of a few hundred Presbyterians.
"There's been hundreds of them that have come into the church and we're full of life," said Duchene.
Christians Combining
Local Catholic churches are doing something similar, with a plan already in motion called the Road to Renewal Project. The church is combining parishes to address lower attendance and fewer priests.
Kenmore Presbyterian used to live on Delaware Avenue, but soon that building will become housing units.
"So often we find that we're sort of leading way ahead and we're looking back and the congregation is two miles back somewhere," said Pastor Fred Powell-Haig
A New Message
Pastor Powell-Haig says you can't blame it all on the pandemic. It's about changing the narrative around church-going altogether.
It really hit home after they got harassing phone calls about the rainbow stripe on their sign.
"This sort of was a wake up call to me that we really needed to be doing more to let folks know that they are loved," said Powell-Haig. "One of the things that I appreciate about this congregation is that I am an out gay person of faith.The fact that we're doing things in a different way."
So he encourages everyone from every walk of life to stop by and worship with them.
They'll be hosting a series on Pride and what the bible says about the LGBTQ community in June and July. For more info on Kenmore Presbyterian, click here.
