You are here: Home > News > The Harvest September/October 2007 > St. Philip's

After 45 years, doors of St. Philip’s, Topeka to close

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

A lot has happened in the 45 years since St. Philip’s was founded to serve the needs of people in southeast Topeka — baptisms, weddings and funerals; Eucharists and prayer-and-praise services; an ordination or two; potluck suppers, Sunday school classes and Christmas pageants; ups and downs in membership numbers; and priests and lay people passing through three buildings that framed the life of an Episcopal congregation.

All that comes to a close Nov. 18, when the congregation conducts its final services and locks the doors for the last time.

St. Philip’s is closing.

The decision to cease operations came this summer in a rapid turn of events that left the vestry with few options, they said. A just-big-enough budget took major hits with the terminal illness of one major pledger and an out-of-state move by another, reducing income by about 10 percent.

When big insurance premiums were paid in July, the parish was left with only $18 in its operating account. The vestry said they made what to them was the only practical decision available — to close the doors.

Bishop Dean Wolfe met with the vestry and Finance Committee in mid-August. He heard from them that rumblings of financial troubles first appeared in May but reached a crescendo in July.

He also heard of a parish that struggled with too few people to offer programs to attract new members, averaging about 25 people on Sunday. With only one child under age 13, Sunday school was virtually impossible.

Vestry members spoke again and again about this lack of a critical mass of people and of the unsuccessful attempts to grow that were tried in the past.

One member said, “We’ve been like a cat with nine lives, financially, and now we’re out of ideas.”

“We’re out of people, too,” another said.

Treasurer Jim Peters noted that income has been declining in recent years as the congregation has aged, but costs for insurance, maintenance and utilities have kept going up. “There’s just no place to cut,” he said.

The Rev. Kay Dagg has served as vicar of the congregation for three years on a very part-time basis while also working as a teacher in a public middle school. Her modest salary represented only a portion of the budget.

Bishop Wolfe asked vestry members to describe the character of St. Philip’s. He heard words like warm, loving, comfortable, acceptance, family, presence of God.

“But we need a dignified death,” one member said.

While for Christians death is not failure but the ultimate healing, Bishop Wolfe said, perhaps the parish should think of its closing in a different way — as retirement. “This parish has served faithfully for a number of years, and now you can lay your burden down,” he said. “It doesn’t die, because all the members will still live, but the parish can retire, and we can celebrate all it has done.”

Final services on Nov. 18

The parish will have its final regular 9 a.m. Sunday service on Nov. 18 and is inviting former members to attend this “family reunion” celebration. A potluck supper will follow the service.

At 3 p.m. Bishop Wolfe will be present for a diocesanwide service to celebrate four-and-a-half decades of ministry by the people and clergy of St. Philip’s. Priests who have been part of the parish’s life are especially invited, and a reception will follow.

Deacon Annie Hedquist has been part of St. Philip’s, as a member and deacon, for many years. She said, “There have been many more blessings than failures. We have every reason to be proud of what St. Philip’s has been.”

Bishop Wolfe said of the parish’s actions, “I was impressed and deeply moved by the work the leadership of St. Philip’s has done regarding this issue. They have been exceedingly faithful, utilizing limited resources to their very utmost. The honest way they have dealt with declining membership, and their desire to use the resources that are left to build up the Church, are a legacy to the many years of faithful ministry of that parish.

“While we have closed and merged parishes in the last several years, it is important to remember that the diocese is growing in numbers. I’m also certain these faithful members of St. Philip’s will have fruitful ministries in the churches they join.”

After Nov. 18 the St. Philip’s property at 38th and California Streets in southeast Topeka will revert to the diocese’s ownership, and it will be made available for sale to a suitable buyer. Bishop Wolfe said proceeds from the sale will be used to support new church start-ups in the diocese.