Swan Lake -- As the pianist winds down the prelude and the parishioners settle into their carved oak pews, minister Allison Halstead begins a ritual celebrated in this tiny church for more than a century.
But with a membership of only about two dozen, half of them in attendance for this 9 a.m. Sunday service, this small, rural United Church is struggling to survive.
"It think it's kind of a hub for our Protestant religion because out here it is 90 per cent Catholic," says treasurer and church member Jean Lesprance of why the small congregation carries on. "Some days you think why bother, but you keep plugging away."
In this case, plugging away means combining resources with neighbouring churches in Altamont and Miami, both located on Highway 23 east of Swan Lake, and employing Halstead, 51, to serve all three.
In the United Church of Canada, sharing a minister is increasingly common, says Rev. Bill Gillis, conference minister for the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. One-third of the 150 churches in this region are multi-point charges, some served by a pastoral team, others solo like Halstead.
"There's really a desire held by the denomination and the congregations to have a presence in the community as long as possible," says Gillis, who began his ministry serving four small churches on Cape Breton Island. "There is a conscious decision not to consolidate too much."
That means ministers like Halstead travel between communities for Sunday services, community events, and pastoral visits.
She holds weekly 11 a.m. services in Miami, the largest congregation of the trio with about 60 members, and alternates 9 a.m. services between Swan Lake, the farthest west, and Altamont, a congregation of seven families.
"On a regular Sunday, we're on a lectionary (schedule) and the services are identical," Halstead says as she pulls into the parking lot outside the Swan Lake church at 8:35 a.m. on a clear, crisp May Sunday.
Before the service begins, she greets parishioners, catches up on the week's news, puts out the worship bulletins, consults with the pianist on the day's hymns, rehearses a skit, and reads through the day's Scripture passages.
And in two hours, after driving 85 kilometres east to Miami, she'll do it all over again,.
"It's an absolutely gorgeous drive," she says, gesturing to the landscape slowly emerging from winter into spring on a May morning. "I love it every Sunday."
Her biggest challenge is dealing with unexpected weather, especially in winter when conditions can worsen dramatically from the time she leaves her home in Morden, about 30 kilometres southeast of Miami, and then travels west through the rolling hills of the Manitoba Escarpment.
"It's hard because we only see her on Sunday mornings, or every other Sunday morning," says Faye Baete, chairperson of the Swan Lake church board. "That's the hard part, nobody knows her in the community."
Ministers who serve more than one point have to be adept at juggling schedules and remembering the peculiarities and nuances of each church, says Gillis.
"Each congregation has its own personality and you have to be able to recognize that and cope with that, " he says. "The other challenge is to be visible in each community. What tends to happen is where the minister lives tends to be seen as the main community."
In Halstead's case, it's where the minister has her office. Her small space in Miami's former Knox Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1889, is the place she answers her phone, picks up her e-mail messages, and where people usually find her, although the weekly worship bulletin also lists her home and cellular phone numbers.
Sharing the minister has its advantages. No one church is responsible for the whole salary, and a common staff person can connect neighbouring churches and broaden their sense of what the church can be, says Cathie Vanstone, chair of the board at Miami United.
"It's good for us. We get involved with the other points and get to know the other partners in the community."
In the Roman Catholic tradition, where it is not unusual for priests to serve several parishes, people in the pews tend to take on more responsibility if they share their minister, says Archbishop James Weisgerber of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.
"Historically, we've always discovered where the priest doesn't reside, the people are more involved."
Halstead agrees with that assessment, and says that's even more evident in small congregations like Swan Lake and Altamont.
"The board is the church, and everybody has to be doing something," explains the petite and energetic woman who came to Christian ministry as a second career after raising three children.
"They also prioritize, because they have do. They ask what ministry is absolutely essential and which we can let go."
bsuderman@mts.net
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