There has been plenty of interest from potential buyers of a country church near Orange.
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St John the Evangelist in Newman Street Lucknow will go up for auction next month with a price guide of about $360,000.
Future uses, depending on council planning approval, range from converting the 1873 bluestone building into a residence or into various commercial uses.
Benchmark Lifestyle Property director David Dent said the strongest interest so far had been from people thinking of creating a home out of the Anglican church building.
"There's been a huge amount of interest," he said.
Mr Dent said the church was on 1217 square metres of land in Lucknow, which was seeing a revival.
He said it was close to the newly-opened Larder and Home cafe and store and over the road from the Goldfields Tavern which is undergoing refurbishment.
Plans to upgrade the service station site on the main street, the Mitchell Highway, have also just been before Orange City Council.
The church warden, Deidre Beasley, has researched the history of the building.
Mrs Beasley said due to an increasing population in Lucknow the 1873 church was extended in 1896.
"A large variety of services have always been offered, sometimes two or more in the one day," she said.
She said former prime minister Sir William McMahon and wife Sonia, who had a property in the area, attended the centenary celebration service in 1973.
Mrs Beasley said in its heyday the church was a community hub with a range of Christmas services, baptism services, weddings and others drawing in people.
However, she said in the last few years only a handful of people attended the monthly service, held on the last Sunday at 11.30am.
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Mrs Beasley said she was "mourning" the loss of the church but realistically knew that times were changing and a monthly service was not enough to sustain a congregation.
"I have two feelings on this. I am very emotionally sad about it because of the memories I have of the church," she said.
"[But] it's a building, it's not heaven above, it's a building, we need to recognise that." She said many small country churches were suffering the same fate across a range of denominations.
The last service was held earlier this year. The auction is on site at 11am on November 6.
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