One of New Westminster’s oldest churches could be closing its doors.
Queens Avenue United Church is holding a special meeting in October to consider disbanding the church.
In an Aug. 18 letter to members and friends of Queens Avenue United Church, the church’s board of governance provided an update on some “difficult news” coming out of its Aug. 10 meeting – that the church not pursue a development plan it had previously put forward and that the church close in January 2023.
The board received correspondence from the Pacific Mountain Regional Council of the United Church of Canada stating the property re-development project that Queens Avenue United Church had anticipated beginning in July 2023 has been put on hold indefinitely. The correspondence stated:
“There have been several changes in circumstances – the current economic uncertainty, the rising interest rates and rate of inflation, the rising costs of construction, and supply chain issues mean that the project is not currently economically feasible,” said the Pacific Mountain Regional Council letter to the church.
Blair Odney, lead minister at Queens Avenue United Church, said the church’s board of governance had asked its judicatory – the Pacific Mountain Regional Council – to take the lead on the property redevelopment project, believing it had a better chance of happening beyond the congregation’s lifetime.
“When a congregation disbands, its property – real estate, financial assets, chattel – reverts back to the region,” he said in an email to the Record. “All congregations only hold this property in trust, for ministry, for the United Church of Canada. In this case, the property will revert back to the region and the region will be responsible for the future. “
In June 2021, the City of New Westminster’s land use and planning committee considered a request from the United Property Resource Corporation for a preliminary application review for an official community plan (OCP) amendment, a heritage revitalization agreement, a rezoning and a development permit for 529 Queens Ave.
At that meeting, the committee received a “director’s memo” about the preliminary application review because staff said the 12-storey residential tower being proposed was “well above what is anticipated in the OCP.”
The applicant was proposing to build a 12-storey residential building that was 100% rental, with 31% being below-market rentals and the remainder being market rentals. The plan also included retention and restoration of the church’s sanctuary space, as well as space for a new non-profit child-care facility with about 79 spaces, and a small-scale commercial space, such as a coffee shop.
At that meeting, staff noted the two child-care centres operating in the building had been told their leases would not be renewed after June 2022. Although the church later offered to extend the day-care centres’ leases, one of them, Queens Avenue Daycare, closed in June.
Financial challenges
The August 2022 letter also outlined some of the financial challenges being faced by Queens Avenue United Church.
“Furthermore, since there is no definite project against which a $100,000-loan can be secured to support ministry operations to the end of June, the offer to lend operating capital is no longer available to Queens Avenue United Church,” read the letter. “At the same meeting, the board also received new financial projections based on current trends, and we realize that to finance our ministry to the end of June 2023, we will need a cash injection of $200,000; twice what we had earlier projected.”
The board is calling a special general meeting of Queens Avenue United Church for Sunday, Oct. 2. The purpose of the meeting is to consider a motion to disband as a congregation and to cease operations on Jan. 31, 2023.
“After analyzing all of the information to date, the board of governance believes the congregation has exhausted its human and financial resources to continue in ministry,” said the letter.
The upcoming meeting won’t be the first time the church has considered a motion to disband.
According to a January 2022 update from the board, the congregation had defeated a motion to disband in the spring of 2019. At that time the board believed the continued viability of the church was “extremely difficult to imagine” but there was “a general sense that we should ‘go down fighting’ before disbanding.”
A long history
In 2019, Queens Avenue United Church celebrated its 160th anniversary with a service and a reunion luncheon.
The congregation held its first service by the Fraser River on April 3, 1859, a service officiated by Methodist Minister Rev. Edward White.
A press release about the anniversary celebration stated the first church had opened in 1860 as Mary Street Methodist Church before becoming Central Methodist Church in 1873. That church was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1898.
“In 1899, a new church was built at the present site, the corner of Queens Avenue and Sixth Street and renamed Queens Avenue Methodist Church,” said the press release. “In 1925, the Presbyterians, Congregationalists and the Methodists united and the church was renamed Queens Avenue United Church. In 1959, the old building was replaced by the present building.”
Through the decades, Queens Avenue United Church has been home to church services, concerts in the sanctuary and the church gym, and a community lunch. The building has rented out space to a variety of groups, including two child-care centre and community groups.
The current situation at Queens Avenue United Church isn’t the first time the church has been on the precipice of closing.
In the fall of 2007, the Westminster Presbytery decided to close the church and disband the congregation, effective Jan. 31, 2008. The decision was based on recommendations arising from a review of the congregation.
The congregation, however, appealed the Westminster Presbytery's decision. On Aug. 1, 2008, the church was notified that it would remain open.
The Record has contacted the board for comment. More to come.
