On Nov. 27, the Lakeville United Methodist Church (UMC) held its final service and closed its doors after 160 years of fulfilling spiritual and community needs.

Prior to the closing, the Leader reached out to Rev. Elizabeth Hill, superintendent of the Blue Water District of the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, with some questions in a Nov. 23 email, but did not hear back before publishing last week’s front-page story.

On Dec. 5, Hill sent an email responding to the questions.

Regarding the Lakeville congregation’s Sept. 7 vote rejecting a recommendation to close the church (or “discontinuance” as it’s called), Hill stated the Detroit Annual Conference “honored that request.”

“However, once the church reviewed the projected financial obligations to maintain the staff and facility, they determined it was no longer financially viable to stay open,” Hill wrote. “The members made the decision to hold their final worship on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016.”

Longtime Lakeville UMC member Maxine Louwaert said the congregation was told the church was going to close in June 2017. “They said you can stay open till June, but that’s it,” she said.

The members decided to close earlier because they didn’t wish to “prolong it any longer,” according to Louwaert.

“We just wanted it to be done,” she said.

Hill noted, “It is always a very painful and difficult decision when one of our churches must close.”

“We know that good people are leaving their spiritual home and we share in their feelings of loss and disappointment,” she wrote. “We are praying for the Lakeville congregation and their pastor as they transition to new spiritual homes.”

In her email, Hill noted the Detroit Annual Conference and members of the Blue Water District “are working closely with remaining members of the church to help them transition to new places of worship. The Oxford UMC has welcomed the congregation to join them in worship.”

As for what will happen to the church building, constructed in 1856 and located at 1422 Milmine Rd., and the parsonage, Hill wrote, “No decision has been made.”

“The Detroit Annual Conference is discerning how the facilities can continue to best serve the community,” she wrote. “We will announce this decision once it has been made.”

Some remnants of the Lakeville congregation are hoping to purchase the church building and use it to house a new Lakeville Community Church.