A dwindling congregation that owns a red brick church building in South Osborne, Winnipeg has found a creative way to keep its doors open while meeting a vital need in the neighbourhood.

If all goes according to plan, the sanctuary of Churchill Park United Church will be echoing with the cries and laughter of children by next fall.

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The $4.4-million construction project will transform the main floor of the church, at the corner of Beresford Avenue and Nassau Street, into a 112-space daycare centre, while the second floor will become a community hub with meeting space for congregants and other community groups.

A few years ago, the aging congregation — which averaged 30 or 40 people on a Sunday — came to the painful conclusion that they wouldn’t be able to keep managing their building much longer.

“After a January snowstorm we were sending a 75-year-old guy up onto the roof to scrape the solar panels,” said longtime congregant John McNairnay. “Not a good idea.”

Selling the space was an option, but the church decided it........

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