The church in the middle of nowhere
A Saskatchewan congregation builds in a ghost town
By Kevin Heinrichs Special to ChristianWeek
KELSTERN, SK–On the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan between the hamlets of Morse and Chaplin, the intersecting Highway #19 leads 34 km south to Hodgeville. Drive another 16 km east and north between treeless pasture and crop land and you will come to a faded sign: "Kelstern."
Earlier this century, Kelstern was an important town in the region, featuring a grain elevator, a railroad, a hotel, several stores and many homes. But there is no town there now.
In the relentless evolution of the prairies, all of those buildings have since been abandoned and torn down. The railway was removed years ago. One of the last town buildings, the community centre, was torn down last year.
All that’s left is one vacant house, one small church building. . .and a large, modern-looking new church building under construction to replace it.
Who’s building out here? And more to the point, why?
The answer has a lot to do with a very practical church growth philosophy in a rural setting. Kelstern Community Church (formerly called Elim Mennonite Brethren Church) has ministered to this farming community for nearly 90 years.
On any given Sunday morning, the sanctuary and balcony are filled to capacity with 80-85 people, including older couples, young families, teenagers and children–lots of children.
The need for larger facilities was obvious. Pastor Arnie Armstrong says that the church also wanted room to grow as it reaches out to the community.
But why build in a town that no longer exists? The fact that the church is in the middle of nowhere is, ironically, the biggest reason to build there.
The church attracts people from several surrounding communities including Hodgeville, Shamrock, Bateman, Coderre, Gravelbourg, Chaplin and Hallonquist. Attenders from Gravelbourg, for example, drive up to 50 km from the southeast; those from Chaplin drive up to 50 km from the northeast.
If the church were built in a community closer to some members, it would isolate those from the other communities. Kelstern, despite its zero population, remains the geographic centre of its congregation.
Construction began in the spring of 1996 and progressed at a pace directly related to the amount of money and number of volunteers available.
"This has been quite a stretching experience for us from a financial perspective," says church moderator Ellwood Barkman.
Virtually all of the $325,000 worth of expenses to date has been raised from within the congregation. The church has borrowed only $30,000 and it hopes to pay that off as soon as possible.
"It required everyone working together to accomplish it. It was by far the largest project we’ve undertaken. People were surprised at the amount of money that we were able to raise," says Barkman.
And so, on March 22, when the church holds its first service in its new building, attenders will travel from miles around to celebrate this thriving church in the middle of nowhere.
