Pastor closes Church after membership shrinks from 400 to one member

Pastor Mike Bennett

Prediction that mega churches will collapse very soon is gradually coming to reality: Pastor closes church after membership shrinks from 400 to one member

Tabernacle Chapel in Wales boasted 400 worshippers at its peak but pastor Mike Bennett, 86, has decided to close the gates permanently after all members stopped attending services one after the other, leaving only Bennett as the only member 

Bennet recalls in an interview Sunday that not less than 100 attended service every Sunday until recently when everything changed.

He said, Tabernacle Chapel United Reform Church in Rhayader, Powys, boasted a congregation of 400 at its peak but after it steadily declined over the years, just 86-year-old Mike Bennett was present for the Sunday services.

He said: “I have been coming here since I was five years old, so I have found this, the closure, difficult. I cut the grass, I’m the general secretary, pulpit supply secretary, organist and, since Dawn Jones died suddenly in July, I took on her role of treasurer too.

“So, that’s another job that’s come on me. I just feel I can’t carry on. Sadly, things like this are happening, which is behind the closure.”