The Millerton United Methodist Church — what will its fate be?

Millerton — Members of the Millerton United Methodist Church have a big decision to make — whether they want to keep their church doors open or if they want to close them for good and instead attend the neighboring Pine Plains United Methodist Church. Those members are invited to attend a meeting at the Millerton church today, Thursday, April 24, at 4 p.m. Their vote will be critical to the church’s fate.“I hope that they will come out and try to unite and put together a new vision for the church, whatever it is,” said Pastor Gregory Higgins. “It has to be their decision — the decision of those members.”The Millerton United Methodist Church has been struggling for the past few years, and when former Pastor Herb Day stepped down its activities pretty much came to a stop. Day officially left in July 2013, according to Higgins, who took over Day’s duties immediately afterward. Higgins is also the pastor at the Pine Plains United Methodist Church and the Bangall United Methodist Church.The issue in Millerton, he said, is that while the church is not closed, it is not in full operation. Services have not been held in quite some time and the last church event was nearly a full year ago, on Memorial Day. The issue, Higgins said, is that the church must “improve its membership.”If it can’t, it might make sense to move westward to Pine Plains. That’s one option church members will have to consider at the April 24 meeting.“It’s really going to be a gathering of members to come together and talk about the future of the church and where it’s going and those decisions will be made by those members,” Higgins said. Church member Nancy Vialpando said she plans on attending the meeting, and she hopes others do too.“It’s a little shocking … to vote on merging the Millerton church with the Pine Plains church, and to maybe sell the property and use the funds to develop the Pine Plains ministry,” she said. The Pine Plains church runs services every Sunday as well as mid-week, on Wednesdays. It boasts a membership of about 300, with service attendance averaging around 50 to 60, according to Higgins.Though numbers in Pine Plains are strong, Vialpando said she hopes it will be Millerton residents who show support for their local Methodist church. She said she’s praying as many people learn about the church’s situation as possible in time for the members’ meeting.“I wanted the community to be aware of this and hopefully people will come. You can’t vote unless you’re there [and a member],” she said.Not only does the church have religious significance for the community, said Vialpando, it has historical significance, too.“It was built in the early 1900s and it’s an historical property,” she said. “So I think it’s important that something proper be done with it. I would hate to see it razed. And it’s zoned commercial, so God knows what could happen, or maybe nothing would. Maybe they’d get rid of it, but I think it’s important historically for Millerton.”Higgins, meanwhile, said he wants what the membership wants. But he also hopes deep down the Millerton church can survive.My hopes are that [they] decide that it has the strength to come back strong as a very strong functional church in the community that reaches out and touches the community of Millerton,” he said. “My prayer is that it comes out of their spirit.”