CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Anna Castilow has attended Selwyn United Methodist Church since she can remember. 

After 75 years, it’s slated to get torn down as early as next week. 

What You Need To Know

Selwyn United Methodist Church is scheduled for demolition in December 

Membership declined just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

Selwyn merged with Grace United Methodist in 2020, becoming Woodlawn Community Fellowship 

Castilow said membership declined before the pandemic. That decline pushed the church to merge with Grace United Methodist, which also lost members, to become Woodlawn Community Fellowship in February 2020.

It's a change she says she is still adjusting to.

“There’s a lot less formality,” she said. “Being in the choir for instance. We’re not wearing robes."

The church also uses chairs instead of pews, she said, which is completely different from what she’s used to.

But one thing hasn’t changed.

As she fist bumped her neighbors during church service at Woodlawn Sunday morning, Castilow is reminded that the community she built at Selwyn lives on in Woodlawn.

Rev. Jonathan Coppedge-Henley's sermon reassured parishioners of that.

“The building was never the sanctuary. The building was never the place where God was to be found,” Coppedge-Henley said.

Fellowship keeps Castilow coming back and inviting more people to become members, and she still gets to see old friends like Sally Rose.

Rose’s parents were charter members of Selwyn. She now decorates the alter at Woodlawn with the same cornucopia she used at Selwyn.

As a part of the church’s transition team, Castilow still goes to the old church a few times a week. It's a building that has hosted everything from weddings to funerals.

“[We] said goodbye to a lot of people in here,” Castilow said.

Now, saying goodbye to her second home is hard.

“It’s probably been the one constant that we always had,” she said.

After a nearly two-year pandemic, Castilow is just grateful for a new church home. 

“It wasn’t about the building. I was just so happy to be back together again with the people that I’ve known and loved, and our new friends,” she said.

She’s hoping to preserve some of the beautiful stained glass from Selwyn before it gets torn down. 

The new landowner will build townhomes on the property, and a portion of the sales will go toward redeveloping Woodlawn Fellowship.