CHINA GROVE — Immanuel Presbyterian Church has welcomed the China Grove community for the past 83 years, but the church will be closing its doors for good after one last service on Feb. 25.

Pastor James Beard, who has served as the church’s pastor for the past 10 years, said that he hopes to have as much of the church’s historical community present on Sunday as possible. He has invited Rev. Felicia Hoyle, who will perform the closing liturgy. Revs. Barrie Kirby, Jerry Ellis and Troy Lewis will also be present at the service. Kirby was pastor from 2002 to 2008, Ellis from 1987 to 1989 and Lewis from 1977 to 1978.

Beard said that Rev. Ron Lee, who was pastor from 2010 to 2013, would be unable to make it to the service but that the church has planned to play a hymn that Lee, who is also a musician, wrote.

Many of the other former pastors have either let Beard know that they have a scheduling conflict and cannot make it or have passed away, Beard said.

“There are a lot of people out there with a historical connection to this church, whether personally or their family and we want them to know about this and be able to make it,” said Beard.

There will also be a catered lunch hosted after the service.

The church was founded to serve the quickly-growing community of Five Forks in January of 1941. Around that time, a religious census was held which said that the community desired its own church, so Rev. John Ricks started holding afternoon and night services in community members’ homes.

Two months later, the congregation moved into an abandoned garage building that had been offered to them. Members made pews to place in the building and hung curtains to divide out classes. Due to rapidly increasing membership, the congregation added four rooms onto the back of Houston’s Store and connected them to the garage by a porch.

The church building itself was constructed from 1944 to 1948. The sanctuary was ready for services in June of 1945 and in February of 1948 the educational part of the building was completed. The debt for the church was paid off in 1954 and the church burned the promissory note in a dedication service.

Since then, several more facilities have been added to the building, including a vestibule in the front that was named after the McLaughlin family. W.C. McLaughlin was the pastor of the church from 1964 to 1970, which included the period during which the church became fully self-supporting.

In 1975, when the church voted to stay with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., approximately 100 members opted to leave and join the Presbyterian Church in America, leaving Immanuel’s membership at roughly 60. Beard said that the number has only gone down since then, bottoming out at eight members who regularly attend church today.

“A lot of the things you need to sustain a church we just don’t have today,” said Beard.

Sometime after the final service, the Presbytery will officially close the church and take over the property. They will formally end the church’s existence and maintain any documents or records the church has. Beard said that the Presbytery will also help any members who do not have a new home church find congregations.