By Andrea Flexhaug

IT IS a quaint little church, on a quiet street corner in the town of Okanagan Falls.

Known colloquially as the ‘Blasted Church,’ it is where the congregation of Okanagan Falls United has held Sunday services for the past 79 years.  On March 29, it closed its doors for the summer – and possibly forever.

“The church is going to close for a period of time, and we don’t know when it’s going to open again,” said interim minister Linda Ervin. “And it may, or it may not. The services will cease here until the Spirit moves the congregation . . . to re-energize and possibly open.”

At one time the church saw up to 40 or so members occupying its well-worn wooden pews, with that number fluctuating; and over the years, it has lessened to 12 or so regular members – who worked hard to keep the church going.

March 29 was, in some ways, an upbeat day for the congregation – beginning with the morning service, then a potluck lunch and a celebratory service in the afternoon. However, observed Ervin, “It’s a very emotional, very difficult time . . . Today was a day of celebration [and] remembering.”

Ron Routledge, chair of the Kamloops-Okanagan Presbytery management team, said the B.C. Conference will make the ultimate decision; but the input of Ok Falls church members will be seriously considered.

“The congregation are going to look at what resources they have,” explained Routledge. He noted the members are looking at different options – from sharing the church with other groups, to “outright disbanding.”

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The church building began its 111 year old existence above the nearby town of Oliver at the old Fairview mining site, when the Gold Rush was on. When the gold petered out, the little church sat empty and unused.

But Okanagan Falls was in need of a place of worship. The church was dismantled, moved and rebuilt in Ok Falls in 1929.

The church received its unofficial title of  ‘Blasted Church’ due to the use of  dynamite – which was hung from its rafters and lit, with the resulting explosion stretching the church out like a balloon, and loosening the nails for dismantling.

The upper room of the church was trucked over from a building at a  Copper Mountain mine; the south room was built by local church members.

 The church’s heritage has been added to over the years, with other additions by church members – from a tree root sanded by Carleton MacNaughton and donated as a baptismal font in 1974, to a bell donated by George Maynord in the late 1930s.

The bulletin on the day of the church’s closing read in part:  

“We remember the life that has been in our congregation, from the pioneers of the Fairview gold rush whose need to hear and share the message of Jesus Christ first formed this congregation and crafted this house of worship, to the outreach breakfast program serving the youth of the community.”

As the Ok Falls congregation spoke of looking forward in faith, the bulletin summed up their feelings:  

“We give thanks for all that we have been. We give thanks for what God will call us to in the future. We are not alone. God is with us.”

May 2008