MINDEMOYA—The Municipality of Central Manitoulin has purchased the former Trinity United Church property in Mindemoya. 

CAO Denise Deforge confirmed the purchase, noting that the building is well-suited for community use, being fully accessible and compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. 

“We also use, and have historically shared the cost of plowing, the parking lot at the property to access our fuel tanks for the Mindemoya arena,” she noted. “So it really made sense.”

Former church pastor Rev. Kim Inglis explained in a previous interview that one of the reasons the church was for sale, “is there are no longer enough people in the church to put on community events, the average age of the congregation is about 78, and putting on events is getting tougher to do.”

Rev. Inglis noted when the church was closing that, “the church includes parishioners from Providence Bay (the United Church there was sold previously) and Kagawong (where the church was given to Billings township in 2018). They all operated as separate churches, and then with Providence Bay and Kagawong parishioners, became one community of faith.”

Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Trinity United Church, as many of the parishioners did not return to the pews when the pandemic had subsided.

“The church is over 100 years old, at least the older part of the church is,” said Rev.  Inglis, and worshipping started in 1915 when the church membership was Methodist. A 100th anniversary celebration was held at the Trinity United Church in September 2018.

The church building will now enjoy a second lease on life as a community asset and, should the community eventually decide to build a new multi-use facility to replace its aging arenas, the property could be incorporated into those plans.