Numbers squashed, rural Cawston's only church turns to a 'Treasure Chest' for survival

In 2019, the National Trust for Canada, a respected national charitable organization that "empowers communities to save and renew heritage places," estimated that up to a third (9,000 of 27,000) of this country's faith buildings could disappear in the next decade.

The forecast got a lot of play in the press, but was it really all that surprising? Survey after survey since the turn of the century has shown Canadians are, increasingly, losing their religion. And Christianity has been taking the biggest hit of all.

And of that, it's been "mainline" Protestant denominations such as the United Church of Canada that are shrinking fastest. According to StatsCan, the United Church lost 40% of its affiliates between 2011 and 2021.

In the southern BC interior, you don't have to go far to see the wreckage.

In little Greenwood, the St. Columba United Church closed in 2017. In Princeton, St. Paul’s United Church evaporated in 2021.

In 2022, it was the Zion United Church in Ashcroft. And just a few months ago, it was Penticton United.

So when we heard through the grapevine that Cawston United Church, the only church in the farming community of Cawston, might be one of the next, we headed 40 minutes south to find out why.

We landed at a restaurant named Steele's Bistro in downtown Keremeos, approximately six kilometers west of the church itself. The church board was having a luncheon – their very first luncheon since 2013.

Going in, we had no idea what we'd find. A pity party? The last vestiges of a despondent group? Apathy?

But what we found surprised us.

We began our afternoon chatting with a likable fellow named Victor Imce. Not only a board member, Imce also chairs the meetings and conducts the Sunday services at the church. So he's kind of Mr. Everything.

And he was as forthcoming as he was welcoming. Cawston United Church, he said, isn’t falling apart anytime soon. But, he added, it's far from a position of strength and it’ll likely never recover.

"The traditional mainstream churches, like Anglican, Presbyterian, United, Catholic even, have become more and more an aging community," he said.

We equated the fall-off to that of community service groups, which are experiencing similar number issues. He agreed and continued.

"So now our members are aging and it’s harder for them to do stuff. And they're declining in numbers too. And there aren’t new people coming along."

According to Imce, the story is a bit different at "revivalist" churches where the ambience is decidedly different.

"At our church, we have a regular service every Sunday morning," he said. "We try to keep it upbeat, but we’re scripturally oriented. We follow a biblical-based form of worship that may be difficult for some people to understand.

"But young people are the forte of the Pentecostals and the Baptists and those churches that are more animated, more musically oriented."

Put all of the above together and stick them into the wide-open spaces of Cawston, where the fruit trees total abut a zillion but the human population sits at 1,000 or so, and it's not shocking that the current Sunday morning services are, by any standard, small.

But this small? Imce says some days they'll get as many as 20. But that's extremely rare. Usually it's more like ten. Or eight.

It’s a far cry from the early years, when life in the valley often swirled around churches and where families were mega-sized.

Fellow board members and Cawstonites Margaret Russell and Wendy Dowle, who toured us later on, know people who attended their church not long after its mid-1940's unveiling and early 1950's renovation, where a big new hall dubbed the "Sunday School Room" was added on.

People like 85-year-old Mary Stewart, part of the sizable Cawston Stewart clan.

And the consensus between all of them is that the congregation has shrunk to a fifth or sixth or less of its size back in the day.

"In '52, the community got together and helped build that addition," said Russell, who's been a church regular for the past couple decades.

"The Stewarts moved here in '51. They were a big family. Like, 15 children. The dad helped build it. The mom crocheted the Lord's Prayer, which is hanging in the church today. And of course they all went to church.

"But now the older people are dying off, and the younger ones aren’t going to this type of traditional church. They like revivalist churches, with bands and everything."

We suggested there's strong evidence that a growing percentage of today's young people have issues with religion and simply don't do church at all. And the affable Russell responded thoughtfully.

"I hear so often people say they're spiritual but not religious," she said. "And we've certainly heard a lot about what's been done in the name of Christ. And some of it is disgusting.

"But I personally do believe in a divine creator – if you want to call it God or whatever. I say how could there not be a designer. Because look at us. How can this happen without something?"

But we still had some big questions. Like, how does a church with an average of ten or less attendees per week survive?

Turns out it starts with ownership. The United Church of Canada owns the Cawston United property, a pretty standard deal it seems in the world of churching. So the local folks don’t have to come up with mortgage or rental payments.

They must, however, come up with bucks for stuff like utilities and upkeep. And as Victor Imce told us, the upkeep of an 80-year-old building is formidable.

So raising money remains a crucial deal.

One of the ways they do that is to rent out the church space. Currently, they rent once a week to the drug and alcohol recovery group "Sisters in Recovery," and occasionally to the social group "Crown Jewels of Canada Society."

But there's not much beyond that. No rock bands renting rehearsal space, for instance. And the blame lies with the admittedly aging board.

"There's such a small congregation now," said Wendy Dowle. "It falls on so few of us to do so much.

"But we are trying to make people aware of the building. Getting married in that little church in the country and having a reception in the hall right there is ideal.

"And it would be nice to have some volunteers interested in bringing their own thing to the church. Art classes for little kids, for example. Bring us your ideas. Phone us and we'll discuss it."

But none of the above broaches the one wild card that so efficiently clears up the picture. It's a thrift store in downtown Keremeos, Cawston's far busier next door neighbour, called the "Treasure Chest."

Residing on the same plot of land where the region's very first United Church once stood, a piece of land still owned today by the United Church Of Canada, the Treasure Chest is, according to our trio of interviewees, the only real reason the Cawston United Church continues to exist.

Indeed, the Treasure Chest lifts the church beyond mere existence. It helps it become a community benefactor.

Granted, thrift stores aren’t exactly a breakthrough formula. Residents bring the secondhand items and the staff sorts the good from the bad, displays it and sells it to whoever wants to buy it.

But in Keremos/Cawston, that formula works especially well. As it absolutely must do for the church to survive.

"So, this was an amalgamation with us and the Anglican Church," said Margaret Russell as she toured us through the Treasure Chest. "Back then it was called the Bargain Centre. But the Anglican Church shut down during COVID. Then we took it over."

And they went to work.

"We did everything," said Russell. "We painted, we sanded the floors, we put in a ramp, put sidewalks in, put in a furnace and an air conditioner and an extra storage shed, and re-did the electric. We revamped the place.

"And today it's run by a committee of five ladies. We meet once a month. We basically run it, though for anything big we have to ask permission from the United Church of Canada."

It takes 27 unpaid volunteers and absolutely zero paid workers to keep the place operating. Tuesdays and Fridays are the big sort days, Wednesdays and Saturdays it opens to the public.

And the public responds.

"When we open there's usually a lineup at the front door," said Wendy Dowle. "It’s a social place. They're here to chat and enjoy the music."

But they're also there to shop. Shop big.

"We're very busy," said Russell. "There's not much like this around here. And with what we bring in, we pay all the bills here and all the bills at the church too.

"Then with the money left over we pay out all the different organizations we support in the community. We give out thousands of dollars every quarter."

Victor Imce was succinct.

"Without the Treasure Chest," he said, "the church would be more no more. Undoubtedly.

"Plus, one of the big reasons people in this area know us is because of that thrift store. They know it’s connected with the United Church. And it's appreciated. There are lots of people here who have very, very little."

So, exactly where do the excess funds go? According to Imce, a whole bunch of causes.

"We do the meals for the kids in the (Cawston) elementary school," he said. "We do that once a month. We'll make donations to the museum society, to programs of the Lower Similkakeen Community Services Society. We have about 20 charitable causes we donate to.

"But that's not all. Recently we had a Ukrainian refugee family come to town. They got free run of the thrift shop at no cost. That’s the sort of thing we’re here for."

In the end, we achieved our initial goal. We learned the immediate fate of Cawston United Church.

Along the way, we got to know a scrappy group of individuals with which we (meaning this author) have theistic differences but respect.

Arguably our biggest take-away? That this small-ish and "maturing" congregation continues to have such an impact on the area.

But what does the future hold? Religious organizations like the United Church of Canada are losing members and affiliates, and certainly none of our interviewees could see their local congregation increasing.

Furthermore, they all agreed that without their thrift store, which itself relies on public donations, their church would have passed some time ago.

It's a scenario that has more or less played out in numerous communities across Canada in recent years and will likely continue to do so.

In the meantime, they're going to make the best of it.

"We," said Victor Imce, "want to keep the church going because there wouldn’t be a Treasure Chest without it."