On a chilly, gray morning, the last prayers were uttered, the last communion was administered and the last hymn was sung as Lakeville United Methodist Church (UMC) conducted its last service Nov. 27.

“I cried after communion because it was just so final,” said Leonard resident Marlene Mallia, who’s been attending the church with her husband, Geno, for about 10 years.

The tall, white church on Milmine Rd. that towers over just about everything else around it in little Lakeville quietly closed its doors after 160 years of serving spiritual and community needs.

“It’s the end of an era,” Geno said.

Although the church building was erected and dedicated in 1856, the Lakeville congregation itself had its start in 1834 in the home of William Hagerman.

Rev. Chatfield, a Methodist circuit rider, who travelled here from Pontiac on horseback, organized the first church society with Hagerman as the leader.

In those days, circuit riders were travelling preachers.

The small church enjoyed a long and productive life playing a vital role in the community, but over the last year, it had been fighting to stay open.

In September, its members voted unanimously against a recommendation to close, or “discontinuance” as it’s called.

But the final decision was not theirs to make. It rested with the leadership of the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

In a nutshell, Lakeville was closed because its congregation is very small, no longer growing and worship attendance had declined. It had an aging membership that was just not as active, or “outwardly focused and missional,” as the UMC believes its churches should be. Reasons related to finances and handicap-accessibility were also previously cited.

“It’s hard, but to be perfectly honest with you, if you look at it from a business standpoint, the Methodist Church did the right thing by closing it while it’s still a good building,” said Oakland Township resident Mike Comps, who had attended the church on and off since about 2000. “If you don’t have members coming and you get down to six (or) seven people on a Sunday, you can’t survive.”

“It’s always sad to see a church close, but circumstances change and ministries change,” said Jeffery D. Regan, who served as pastor for both the Lakeville and Leonard UMCs from 1976-79.

He returned for the final service because for him, Lakeville holds “lots of good memories” filled with “lots of great people.” He said he doesn’t believe closing a church is ever “anybody’s desire,” but, it’s “difficult to maintain a ministry without a strong core group of people that are engaged.”

During the final service, the church building was officially deconsecrated and the congregation disbanded.

As can be expected, the mood at the final service was a sad one.

“I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe it’s going to be closed,” said Oakland Township resident Valerie Stevens, who’s been attending the church for about 45 years. “They’re going to change the locks. We won’t be able to come in. I’m going to miss it. It’s just unreal.”

“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” said Joan Trevaskis, who’s been attending the church since the late 1970s. “I never expected it to come to this. I’m very hurt, really, but I think we all are. I don’t know what else to say.”

“We do not know where we’re going to be next Sunday,” Marlene said.

All that remains now are memories and friendships.

“This (church) has been a big part of my life,” Stevens said. “All three of my kids were baptized here. My husband accepted Christ here. I did, too.”

“We’ve got lots of fond memories and we’ll keep them with us. We’ve had a wonderful time here,” Geno said. “We’ve got a lot of good friends here. Hopefully, these friends will stay with us forever.”

“I won’t forget the people that I’ve met here. We’ll still be in touch,” said Addison resident Mary Beth Kurschat, who attended the church for about four years. “These are my friends. That will never change. They’re just the best.”

During its lifetime, Lakeville UMC did what a church is supposed to do by offering folks comfort and aid.

That’s what drew Stevens to the church many years ago when the 13-year-old son of her next-door neighbors was hit by a car and killed.

Those neighbors were members of Lakeville UMC.

“I saw how this church came and just surrounded them with love,” Stevens said. “I thought, ‘I want to be part of that.’”

For the Mallias, Lakeville offered them “a soft place” to land after they left Leonard UMC under some “very bad circumstances.”

“They were so good to us,” Marlene said. “Their arms we’re open and they were loving.”

The closure has been particularly painful for Trevaskis.

For her, the church has been a valuable support system that’s been there for her through good times and bad.

“I look back at some of the pastors that got me through some hard times,” she said. “My kids were baptized there. I went through a not-so-nice divorce and I had the support of the pastor and his wife to get me through it. My girls were raised there. My second husband and I were married there.”

But in the shadow of this ending, some Lakeville churchgoers are hoping and praying for a new beginning. Some of them are looking to potentially buy the historic church building from the United Methodist Church and use it to house a new, independent entity called Lakeville Community Church.

“Ultimately, that’s what we would love to do,” Trevaskis said. “All we want to do is buy the church and put it back together.”

That’s the ideal situation, but nothing is certain at this point.

“They haven’t done an appraisal yet. We don’t know how much it’s going to cost. We don’t know what kind of financing (is going to be required or available),” Trevaskis said. “It’s just kind of up in the air. Right now, we’re in limbo. We don’t even know where we’re going to meet next Sunday.”

Despite all the uncertainty, Trevaskis is trying to remain optimistic because “the only way it’s going to happen is if we push forward and try.”

“If we drop it now, then there is no chance,” she said. “We still want to be a congregation.”

Stevens is definitely on board with this idea if the church can be purchased at “a reasonable price.”

“I hate to see this little church close and I hate to see it turned into (something else like) a grocery store,” she said. “I want it to remain a church.”

Comps likes the idea of establishing a new, independent church, however, he has some doubts.

“I don’t know if it’s workable,” he said. “I don’t know where we’re going to get the bodies to support that.”

However, Comps believes if the church has a new name and “the right pastor,” it “could flourish.”

It also needs some new blood, in his opinion. “We have to have younger people,” he said.

Maxine Louwaert, who’s been attending the church since the late 1970s and had all four of her children baptized there, has a strong attachment to the building and hopes that it can either continue as a church or perhaps, become a wedding chapel.

“We put a lot of work into (the building),” she said.

While some people may view that as simply “housekeeping,” Louwaert said, “It was more than that.”

“It was taking care of a building where we gathered,” she continued. “It was like taking care of your own home . . . I respect the building itself, the people who built it. I care about it and want it to be treated well in the future.

“Hopefully, the Lord will guide what’s supposed to be here.”