October 30, 2023
Murgon’s 103-year-old Christ Church – part of the Anglican parish of Barambah – held its last service on Saturday morning.
The church is latest casualty of the Anglican Church’s program of consolidating its rural congregations in larger towns.
It follows similar closures at Proston, Kumbia, Mondure and Kilkivan which have occurred over the past decade.
On Saturday, about 30 parishioners gathered at the church in Taylor Street East to take part in a Thanksgiving and Deconsecration Service performed by the Right Reverend Cameron Venables, the Bishop of Brisbane’s Western Region.
Bishop Venables led the audience through a program of hymns, prayers and communion, accompanied by a sermon that briefly outlined the church’s history.
Bishop Venables told the audience the church had been consecrated on April 18, 1920, when Murgon was very different to the town that exists today.
“For many of you this building has been hallowed by cherished memories, and we know that some will suffer a sense of loss,” Bishop Venables said.
“We pray that you will be comforted by the knowledge that the presence of God is not tied to any one place or building but that the Holy Spirit moves within the community wherever we gather to worship together.
“We thank God for all that Christ Church, Murgon, has been to those who have worshipped here over many years.”
He said that while Christ Church would close, parts of it would continue to live on at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Wondai.
These include the church’s two “warden wands” and – if all goes well – the beautiful stained glass window that is the building’s centrepiece.
Bishop Venables formally deconsecrated the church by reading the Administrator’s Deed of Secularisation, offering up a Prayer of Departure, a Recessional Hymn and a Blessing, and then posed for a group photo with everyone in attendance.
After this, the audience adjourned to the church hall next door to share their memories and hopes for the future over a light lunch of sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee.
