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Canova Congregational Church closing doors
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By ELISA SAND, Staff Reporter
| 10/08/2009 |
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Rev. and Mrs. Robert Adams
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Founded in 1886, the Canova church has a history that stretches back 123 years. There won't be a 125th year celebration for the church, however. With a current congregation of just a half-dozen members, the decision was made to close the doors. A final service will be held on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and an auction is set for Oct. 15.
"Everything from the old church will be auctioned except me," Adams said.
Everything, that is, except the religious artifacts which are being donated to McCrossan Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls.
Judy Adams said the passing of the artifacts to another church has a deeper meaning for the couple. Fresh out of Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., Adams' first assignment was to start a church near Syracuse, N.Y.
The effort was a success. Fifty years later, the church now has a congregation of 600 members. But, its beginning was aided through a donation of religious artifacts from another church that was closing its doors.
Because of that gesture, the Adamses wanted to do the same thing. They found the opportunity at McCrossan Boys Ranch, which is in the process of establishing a church on its campus.
After successfully establishing the church in New York, Adams received an opportunity to teach astronomy at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and be the campus minister there. He was there from 1965-83, after which he went to Iowa and led the First Congregational Church of Algona for the next 12 years.
When he came to the Canova Congregational Church, there were about 35 registered members. Since that time, Adams said, the close-knit group has only gotten smaller. Some people have moved, some have passed away and others are now in nursing homes.
A traditional turkey dinner, held annually on the first day of hunting season, was discontinued five or six years ago because it was too much work for the few ladies remaining in the congregation.
The experience in Canova, however, has taught Adams the beauty of a small congregation.
"You have intimacy among people in a small congregation," he said. "You get closer to people in a small church."
Judy Adams recalls starting a tradition of serving cider and cookies after the Christmas service. She did so, she said, for the widowers in the congregation so that they would have something special for the holidays.
On Sunday, Adams will bid farewell and give his final sermon, in which he will quote a greek philosopher: "That which endures is only change."
"The congregation has to face that things are changing," Adams said. "We can change and adjust to new conditions and find the beauty of our church relationships in the community and serve other people."
As an independent, self-governed church, Adams said, the congregation had the final say on who benefits from the auction. The group decided to donate the proceeds to the United Church of Christ Foundation, which provides funding for new church start-ups as well as church remodeling projects.
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