La Grande United Methodist Church plans final service after 113 years

La Grande United Methodist Church is closing a 113-year chapter on Fourth Street and turning its attention to the ministries it says matter most in Union County: Loads of Laundry, The Blessing Box and K-House college meals.

The congregation will hold its final service in the historic 1612 Fourth St. building on Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m. Pastor Roberta Smythe will lead worship, and the service is open to the public. All ages are welcome. After the service, church members and guests will process to Zion Lutheran Church, 902 Fourth St., for a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Church members voted in December to let go of the building so the congregation could focus its resources on community-centered ministries instead of the cost and upkeep of a large downtown property. The move has already taken shape several blocks away, where La Grande United Methodist is sharing worship and office space with Zion Lutheran Church.

That partnership is not new. The two congregations worshiped together in 2023, including a joint service in April and another gathering in September, building on an ecumenical relationship that now provides La Grande United Methodist with a smaller, shared home base as it reorients around service work.

The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference directory lists Smythe as serving La Grande and gives the church’s main service time as 10 a.m. It also lists the congregation at 1612 4th St., La Grande, OR 97850-2506, a reminder that the building’s address remains part of the church’s identity even as the congregation prepares to leave it.

The decision also fits a broader Union County pattern. In Union, the former Union United Methodist Church was put up for sale in 2019 after the congregation disbanded amid declining membership. The property was later purchased in 2021 by Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall and renamed the Catherine Creek Community Center, showing how an aging church building can be repurposed for new public use rather than simply left behind.

For La Grande, the final service on June 7 will be both a farewell and a handoff. The congregation is not ending its work; it is shifting that work into ministries that meet everyday needs more directly, even as one of downtown’s longtime faith landmarks takes its last bow.