A 200-year-old Lutheran church will have its final worship service on the last Sunday of 2014, before closing its doors permanently.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, which is located on Midlothian Boulevard in Youngstown, Ohio and has been present since 1812, will shut down following a great decline of regular attendees.
According to a report by WKBN, the church attendance has been at its all-time low at just 20-30 church goers for the last four years, says parishioner Norman Zimbower.
"Just our as bill in the winter is $800. And we still have other expenses. Also we had to pay the minister we had. It was impossible," said another parishioner, Ruth Zimbower.
In the report, the decline of attendance in Lutheran churches is not isolated in Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ohio. There has also been a big decline of regular attenders in the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America in general, with churches stating a regular attendance of fewer than 50 individuals on Sundays.
Aside from the church, the Midlothian Free Clinic will need to look for another place as it is currently located inside the church. The clinic tends to the poor and sick and offers services free of charge.
In the report, the final Sunday service will be presided by the Bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod.
The church will close its doors in January.
But as for members of the church, they may have to find a new place or church to worship.
We have had a long history in the area and we have served the community with the word of God and the message of Christ for thousands of people," says George Strom, a lifelong member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
"I was married in this church. And my parents were married in this church in 1912. So that is a happy memory."