The Rev. Kimberly Secrist Ashby invited everyone with a long-standing connection to Deer Creek Harmony Presbyterian Church on Sunday to gather at a table in the back of the sanctuary and press jewels, symbolizing their memories of the church, into two small clay crosses.

It was a final gesture of remembrance for the 145-year-old building, and especially fitting for the 184-year-old congregation based in Darlington.

“It's too artistic a church for us not to do this,” Secrist Ashby said while helping people with the symbolic art project.

Ashby, the pastor of Fallston Presbyterian Church, led the final service at Harmony Church on Sunday afternoon with the Rev. Daris Bultena of Joppa's Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church.

Harmony Church was down to about 20 members, most of them elderly, the Rev. Susie Atkinson said.

After closing for repairs recently, the congregation found deeper building issues and voted to shut the church's doors for good and revert it to the Presbytery of Baltimore. The property also includes a fellowship hall and a cemetery.

The mold that prompted the repairs has been remedied, Atkinson said.

The final service Sunday drew more than 65 people, many of them attendees of Churchville Presbyterian Church or family and friends of Harmony members. Some area leaders, such as the Rev. Merritt Schatz of Aberdeen's Grove Presbyterian Church, also came.

Many called it a sad day.

“It's just a fixture of the community,” said Nolan Gallion, a Churchville Presbyterian member who has attended services at Harmony on occasion. “I have friends buried back in there, in the graveyard.”

Churchville Presbyterian formed Harmony Church in the 1830s, but the two no longer had formal ties. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a Harford County historic site.

Gallion was not surprised the church was closing.

“It's a sign of the times, and what it is, is recreation took over and churches go down, go down and kept on going down,” Gallion said.

Some said a leftward shift in the Presbyterian Church USA, including the ordination of women and more official openness to homosexuality, caused attendance to drop.

Lorrie Monahan was a lifelong member of Harmony church. When the congregation first received a female pastor, she said, “I think it was like, nobody was coming.”

“I think a lot of the older people can't get over a change like that.”

Matt Rothwell, who grew up in the church, recently moved back to Darlington with his wife and two young children. He said he was perhaps the youngest member of the congregation, but he was impressed by the full parking lot on Sunday.

“I remember as a kid, it was like this every Sunday,” he said. “I remember coming here and you couldn't find a place to park.”

John Sauers, a local artist, was one of two people chosen to share their memories during the service. He said a 1995 article in The Baltimore Sun described the church as having 100 members.

He called the church memorable “from an artist's point of view,” pointing out its 90-foot spire.

“There was always such a warm feeling among the congregation,” Sauers said. “Let's keep our hearts and spirits in a very positive manner, and let us move forward.”

Millie Kreider, a member for 25 years, said church members came to her house when her husband could no longer travel.

“Harmony Church has always been involved in the community,” she said. “I think we need to tell each other these stories again. ... We need to remember the work that the church has done.

“I have tried but I cannot write a closing statement for the church. Maybe that is because God is not finished with us yet.”

In her sermon, Secrist Ashby asked for several moments of silence to give thanks for the church and remember the significant times and people there.

“We are looking forward to what God has in store for each person here,” she said. “The story continues. We may not be able to see down the road or around the corner to what God has in store ... but we know that our God is faithful and there are good things coming.”