Death of a Church
The church is abandoned now and has been for a long time. Lost to the ages of time and lonely are the memories left behind... What happen?
At one time these churches must've been a gathering for the local community. Every Sunday morning I would imagine the church bells would be ringing loudly by boys pulling eagerly on the rope bringing all the faithful together. The pastor would be standing by the entrance of the church greeting everyone by name and asking each how they are doing knowing each one's situation. Old people would come to pray, young families would bring their babies and young children to be baptized. The congregation would always come together to pray whenever one of their members fell on hard times or needed assistance. And then slowly, ever so slowly over time, .....fewer and fewer people would come to the services and they would silently look at one another and wonder. They probably tried to keep their congregation going for awhile hoping for a small miracle until sadly they could no longer keep their congregation going and the people slowly abandoned their church either by moving away or joining another. And then one fateful day, the last person leaving, steps through the front door turned around and locked the door silently behind him and walked down the front steps not looking back.
Aspelund, Free Lutheran Church, Vang, North Dakota. This church is near the town of Vang, that no longer exists as a town. One of many thousands of small towns that have disappeared in the Dakota's in the last 50 years.
Death of a Church
The church is abandoned now and has been for a long time. Lost to the ages of time and lonely are the memories left behind... What happen?
At one time these churches must've been a gathering for the local community. Every Sunday morning I would imagine the church bells would be ringing loudly by boys pulling eagerly on the rope bringing all the faithful together. The pastor would be standing by the entrance of the church greeting everyone by name and asking each how they are doing knowing each one's situation. Old people would come to pray, young families would bring their babies and young children to be baptized. The congregation would always come together to pray whenever one of their members fell on hard times or needed assistance. And then slowly, ever so slowly over time, .....fewer and fewer people would come to the services and they would silently look at one another and wonder. They probably tried to keep their congregation going for awhile hoping for a small miracle until sadly they could no longer keep their congregation going and the people slowly abandoned their church either by moving away or joining another. And then one fateful day, the last person leaving, steps through the front door turned around and locked the door silently behind him and walked down the front steps not looking back.
Aspelund, Free Lutheran Church, Vang, North Dakota. This church is near the town of Vang, that no longer exists as a town. One of many thousands of small towns that have disappeared in the Dakota's in the last 50 years.