Wandering Flock

James Wood

Multimedia Journalist

The Grace United Church congregation has been out of their building since July 7 of this year, while the spire and design has been a landmark of downtown Lloydminster since 1961.

The spire points straight up out the building, and the bricks built in almost four-leaf clover shapes dominate the south wall. However, construction barricades and the sound of workers have been the main fixture of the church in the past few months, as the entire north portion of the complex is slowly demolished.

We knew that something was going to happening this summer, said Reverend Paul Duval, leader of the church for the past two years.

We made a fabulous arrangement with the Presbyterian Church over the summer and that was when it started. The actual demolition process probably didnt start till the first week of August, and weve been moving things out and tying things down, covering up furniture and instruments and that kind of thing, and the construction crew has been here since August 12 or so.

The sense of not having their own space is one that followed the congregation around for the past few months, but DuVal says that people are happy that work is being accomplished on the site now, after major delays a year before.

It is a little unsettled for sure, you dont have all of the resources and all of the facilities that you normally would, said DuVal.

We were used to having a whole bunch of separate rooms and large group spaces, as well as small group spaces. We thought we might have been out of the church a year ago. So, were getting used to it, its not quite ideal, but its going to be OK. Now that things are moving, there is a sense of confidence and a sense of optimism that the end is in sight.

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Wandering Flock