Dwindling attendance has seen a drop in the number of operational churches in regional Australia, and ministers say the church has to change to survive
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It’s early March and the heat is stifling. People mill around on the pavement of the Uniting church in Crookwell waiting for their turn to enter but there’s only standing room left inside. It’s one of their own.
It’s the fourth funeral that the 32-year-old Rev Daniel Mossfield has taken in three weeks. The emotional toll and additional workload is “taxing”, he says. The other three funerals are for community members not a part of the congregation.