Empty pews: Rural Manitoba churches struggle to find ministers

A long-serving United Church minister is preparing to leave his pulpit, adding pressure at a time when filling vacancies has become increasingly difficult.

Rev. Doug Neufeld, who has led Trinity United Church, in Brandon, since 2016 and Forrest United Church, in the community of Forrest, for the past year and a half, will give his final service on Dec. 28 before moving to Stamford Lane United Church in Ontario.

Born in Boissevain, Man., Neufeld said he has “the Prairies in my DNA,” and has shaped his ministry around community connections, even if pews are little more empty.

“The church is shrinking in size, in attendance and in their roles,” he said. “What’s important to one community's faith might be not as important to the other … it’s the same fruit basket, maybe just different contents.”

His departure comes as up to 63 per cent of United Church of Canada ministerial positions sit vacant in the Pine to Prairie region.

The church projects total national membership will drop to around 111,000 in 2035  from just over  321,000 in 2023, but they're working on initiatives to lessen that dip.

The church said it can be challenging setting vacancy rates — not all callings are full-time, and there can be shared ministries or laypeople-led congregations. But rural congregations face particular strain.

Across Canada religious adherence is falling, with 53.3 per cent of Canadians reporting a Christian religion in 2021, down from 67.3 per cent in 2011, according to Statistics Canada. The United Church was the denomination chosen by 3.3 per cent of Canadians in 2021.

On a typical Sunday, Trinity sees about 100 people — up to 200 during Christmas. Neufeld leads a 10 a.m. service, then drives about 20 kilometres north to Forrest for a 12:30 service, with about 25 people.

Collaborative ministry has long existed, but population shifts toward cities are making them more necessary, he said.

“More of the population is in bigger communities,” he said. “These small farming communities are getting smaller … there’s less community to support.”

Searching for a new minister

Meanwhile, Trinity ministry and personnel chair Miranda Edwards said today’s search process looks nothing like it did in 2015 because of high vacancy rates.

It could take more than a year to find another minister, she said.

While they wait, the congregation will work together to ensure there are services each week.

“We … have to build on the strength that we have,” Edwards said. “We have some very gifted people within the congregation that are willing to take a service.”

Edwards said the challenge is significant, both because “Rev. Doug’s” presence will be missed and because there are fewer people available to step in.

There aren't many reverends graduating seminary, so the chances of them finding Trinity will be low. That means Trinity will have to attract them, and show why Brandon is a great community to call home, Edwards said.

At the same time, declining youth attendance mirrors wider cultural shifts, which also causes concern.

But, Edwards says many still feel spiritually connected.

“They want to be a part of the church and attending is not a priority,” she said, adding, “They still feel they belong here.”

In Forrest they’re having the same issues, said longtime member Karen Wilcox-Phillips.

While the church had a major role in the community, there are fewer people — especially children — sitting in the pews.

That change started as life got busier and more expensive, Wilcox-Phillips said, especially as both parents had to work.

“They don't feel that they need to come into the church to worship,” Wilcox-Phillips said. “You look around and we’re all older.”

While the 75-year-old church remains active, it faces steep demographic decline, which means getting a new minister will be “like finding a pearl in an oyster,” she said.

Pat Davis said it will be “very different not having the continuity” of a full-time minister.  Recruiting remains difficult, and she’s hopeful they can find the right fit to fill the hole left by Neufeld's absence.

“Doug grew up in a rural community and so he understands us,” Davis said.

Looking forward

Craig Miller, minister for Knox United Church in Brandon, said churches have struggled for decades as fewer people identify as religious.

In the 2021 census, only 19 per cent of Canadians 65 and older said they had no religion, compared with 36.5 per cent of those between the ages of 15 and 64, and 42.5 per cent of those 14 and younger.

That means recruiting ministers is increasingly hard, as there may be no job, church or pension for them in the coming decades, he said.

Miller believes spiritual seeking will continue, but it will just look different.

“It will go back to … early times of house churches and folks that get together to think about faith and spirituality and ethics,” he said.

“A lot of people really want to live out their faith … working at the soup kitchen or advocating for different poverty initiatives.”

Neufeld agrees, and though some feel “gloom and doom," Neufeld hopes both communities continue sharing what they have.

“We’re literally in our DNA spiritual beings,” he said. “How we're expressing that or how we're trying to fill that is different than our previous generations.”