Locals to the Eastern Township and people from outside the region are coming together to put on a musical performance to raise funds in support of the upkeep of Knowlton’s United Church to ensure that it remains a part of the community. 

The United Church has been a part of Brome Lake for 225 years and it makes its space accessible to various community groups and non-profit organizations in the area to help carry out their mission. However, its attendance has been declining over the years, which has put the United Church in a more difficult situation financially. 

Knowlton’s United Church's minister, Steve Lawson said that he recognizes that Quebec’s churches are declining in numbers and that the church "isn’t as big of a voice as it used to be." Despite the situation, he emphasized that the United Church, as a building and as a faith community, is still a place that people can turn to and that has a lot to offer to the community, but it needs support to keep its doors open. 

Jessica Brown is a Brome Lake resident and an organizer of the performance. “It’s such an important facility for us as Knowlton Players’ (community theatre group), but for many other cultural organizations. I think that most people are not fully aware as to how expensive it is to keep up these kind of old buildings. I had an idea for this concert and I approached a friend of mine, who is also involved in the Knowlton Players,’ (…) and he said ‘that’s a great idea.’ So we just sort of went with it and filled in the logistics later,” she explained.

“We appreciate any effort by any group who is able to help support the ongoing maintenance of the church, which is an issue for us at the church,” emphasized Lawson. “We all know the demise of church life, not only in Knowlton, but across Canada and basically North America in certain places. Churches are declining in numbers, the average age is getting higher and higher. Knowlton United for example, we are down to about 60 households with the average attendance of around 20 people on a Sunday morning. The numbers, and therefore the finances, are getting less and less as we move along.”

Lawson noted that this trend isn’t something new, but he doesn't want the United Church, which he describes as an “iconic landmark,” to disappear from Knowlton’s landscape. 

While Knowlton's United Church has made updates to the building with the resources that it does have, such as new flooring and lighting and a “revamp” of the front of the sanctuary of the church, it’s funding and resources will run out eventually, according to Lawson.

“Church decline, church attendance, and church involvement has been less since the late 1960s. We’re talking 50 years, it’s not a sudden development. We’ve been having what we call ‘future talks,’ conversations, meetings, gatherings, over the last four years to try and talk about the future of the church in this community,” he said. “What do we want? What do we need to do? We want to remain a part of the community. (…) To be honest, we have been involved with some conversation with town and what they feel is the importance of the church. Not only the building or the property, but the faith community as part of the town plan as well. Those talks are still ongoing.”

Recognizing that some people hold the perception that church and religion no longer hold a significant place in society, Lawson emphasized that the church is still an important place for the community to gather for whatever reason that may be. 

“We tried to do our best to make the building accessible and to be used by the community, that still is our goal. The Wellness Group meets there every week for their socials and game time, the Knowlton Players’ practise there regularly, the Community Singers have performed concerts there. (…) It’s a sanctuary, but it’s a theatre,” he highlighted. “I know we have a great theatre in town so we aren’t taking away from that, but it is a place where smaller performances perhaps or practices can be held.”

“Steve is right. It’s great to have just a smaller community space because sometimes if you’re and up-and-coming singer, or any kind of performer, you might not be able to afford the big venue right away. This gives you an avenue to pursue something that you wouldn’t before. There’s so many different aspects of it, even in keeping younger people here. If we’re giving them a place to try things out, we need that so much for our community to stay vibrant,” added Brown. 

As a community of faith, Lawson noted that while the United Church is “less of a voice than it used to be in society,” he believes that it is a voice, amongst many other voices, that still has a positive influence in the community. 

“I like to think that we’re still a voice that does help produce faith, support, encouragement, and it’s a cliché word, but love, whatever that really means. We used to talk about how many people we could bring in to the church, those days are gone. What we really need to talk about is how can we go out to the community, even as a small faith community, how can we go out and be a part of the ongoing life of our community and still be a voice,” he said. “The United Church of Canada is a voice and it has been a leading voice on many issues that have come up over the last 50 to 100 years. (…) Even if people don’t come on a Sunday morning regularly, something significant in their life happens and they turn to look to the church. We’d still like to be there, to be there for them.” 

The concert event will be taking place June 10 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and it is donation based.  Performers include John Barr, the Community Singers, James Gelfand, and more. It will be based on the music of Paul Simon and Simon and Garfunkel.  

Listen to the full interview below: