AS one door closes, another will open.
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The View Hill Fellowship on Forest Street finished its final ever service with these words on Sunday, before its home – the All Saints Cathedral – is officially handed over to a private developer later this year.
The Anglican Diocese of Bendigo recently sold the building after more than 160 years of service on the site.
The View Hill Fellowship held a special service on Sunday where the circa-1858 cathedral was deconsecrated, transferring it from a place of worship to a secular building.
Church council member Kay Wild said it was a sad day for the congregation.
“It’s been a very loving place for us,” she said.
“There’s some sadness in the fact that we won’t be worshipping as a church family again.”
The heritage listed cathedral will retain its sandstone structure and stained glass windows for its redevelopment.
It sits alongside two other churches on the street, in the same precinct as the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The Common Ground congregation from Maiden Gully joined View Hill Fellowship in their last service, taking the total present at the event to 75.
A large number of the congregation is expected to join the Maiden Gully church, while others will attend other Anglican congregations in Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk, White Hills, East Bendigo and St Paul’s in the CBD.
The View Hill Fellowship was formed in 1991 after the cathedral was vacant for two years.
Ms Wild was among those to form the new congregation, and said it had been a tight-knit group.
“Over the years, a lot of us have gone on missions overseas,” she said.
“Four people have also trained to become ministers.”
She said the group would keep a keen interest in the works that go on at the site as the developer takes on ownership.
At the conclusion of Sunday’s service, the Bishop of Bendigo Right Reverend Andrew Curnow read the Certificate of Deconsecration as all left the building.
He read, “We now take from this place the gifts and signs which speak of your mystery and presence that this building and site may be used for other purposes”.
Once outside, he closed the service with Revelations 3:7, describing “as one door closes, another will open”.
A passer-by told the Bendigo Advertiser it was disappointing to hear the congregation would be leaving the cathedral.
She said the area – full of heritage-listed houses – had started to lose some of its unique character in recent years.