Our Church Will Close on Sunday, But My Work of the Lord Will Continue

We learned while in Portugal that our church is closing, with the last service this Sunday, June 28, 2026. It is heartbreaking for everyone, but especially for people who have attended for more than thirty to forty years. Each Sunday is like we are attending the same funeral, so maybe it is good for everyone to have a definite closure date. The United Methodist Conference will change the locks on June 30, so I will turn in my keys this Sunday. I am preparing my last Sunday School lesson on Acts 8:26-40, on Philip the Evangelist’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch.

I chose this scripture to remind us all that just because the doors of the building are closing, our work continues. Ultimately, it isn’t the building that is the church, but the many people who have worked through the years, praying, singing, preaching, and teaching words of encouragement, salvation, and the power of the Cross of Jesus for healing, hope, and happiness.

I will try to find a way to keep in contact with many of my Sunday School students, for they are like family to me. I only saw them each Sunday, but I looked forward to being with them and serving with them, so it hurts a lot. We don’t know where we will go next, but I created this blog to share my faith, and I have gotten away from the mission. I am a big advocate for “breaking down the walls of the church,” so the mission can spread. So, I will find ways to bring God’s word to a world so in need of it, separate from simply going to a building every Sunday and Wednesday.

I visited a place today called the Rock Garden in Calhoun, Georgia, behind a Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was filled with Bible verses and one man’s labor of love to inform people of the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I was touched by the work that went into building the Rock Garden, and though it was free, I would have paid a fee to enter, for it touched my soul and made me realize that we can do the Lord’s work without being in a specific place every Sunday. Below are pictures I took that warmed my soul and took away my sadness for a time.