Time to Go?

Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador

The Saturday Globe and Mail included a lengthy article about what our probably the last days of a Newfoundland outport community called Little Bay Islands. There are only 38 aging year-round residents and 20 households left on what was once a thriving island community. In another day there were 600 residents and three churches. The fish plant has closed, there aren't enough children to sustain a school, and folk have to travel a couple of hours, including the ferry trip,  for medical care and groceries. The government is proposing a $250,000+ per household buy-out for residents so that it can end expensive services to a dying community, as is the case with other isolated locations. It's likely that a vote by residents will accept the offer. https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/newfoundland-outports-relocation/article36275746/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com 

This piece touched us because we lived in outport Newfoundland at the beginning of my ministry. We were there as the cod fishery was failing. Today the five communities I served are struggling and two of the churches have closed. We went back this summer after I retired, a return to our ministry roots. We spent a month on Change Islands, not far from where we had lived, and where our son was born. Frederickton, on the map below, is one of the outports I served.

We love the wild beauty of Change Islands but there are only two hundred permanent residents left and people are aware that there isn't much of a future for the aging community they would be loathe to leave. The local librarian is mother of two of the ten school-age kids and she and her husband plan to leave for better employment and opportunities for their children. 




It's crazy that there are still four churches on Change Islands (Anglican, United, Pentecostal, and Salvation Army) and all of them are struggling for survival. St. Margaret's Anglican (above) celebrated the 125th anniversary while we were there. There were nearly 200 people at the celebration dinner, which we attended, and the church was full the next morning. But on most Sundays the congregation numbers a dozen or so, at best.

We may figure that this is just the sign of the times, yet there is a powerful sense of place to these communities which no longer exists in so many mainland cities and towns and villages. When they cease to exist, including the faith communities, something significant will be lost to Canadian culture. The Anglican bishop did offer a thoughtful and hopeful message about a new way of living the gospel at the anniversary service. We'll pray that God is in the midst of this time of transition.