The secret to this church’s comeback wasn’t in the pews

Before Rev. Simon Muwowo joined St. Paul’s United Church in Deer Lake, N.L., about three and a half years ago, the status of the congregation was laid out for him in stark terms.

“Before I moved here, I was told that the church was in ICU,” he recalls. “It was after COVID had hit and, of course, they had suffered quite a lot of decline in the membership.” For the small congregation of mostly seniors, “they would print less than 25 bulletins on a Sunday.”

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Today, that same congregation regularly sees 80 people at Sunday service and sometimes upwards of 140. People of all ages sing together in praise, teens dance in worship, children perform in Christmas and Easter plays, and new members are joining from across the cultural spectrum.

The catalyst for this transformation? A free after-school program.

Muwowo (who goes by “Rev. Simon”) hit upon the idea after about a year of exploring various ways “to create something new,” he says. After speaking with local parents and realizing the community had no after-school programming, and thinking back to his days as a busy father of four on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula (where he was minister previously), he suggested that the church provide a safe and interactive place for children of busy parents. “But they also learn about life and morals, and encounter Christ in the process,” he says.

The after-school program, which launched in October 2024, accepts kids from kindergarten to Grade 5 and runs three days a week, 3 to 5 p.m. As of May, 27 children were registered.

The program offers story time (including some Bible stories), crafts, snacks and free playtime. Every few months, St. Paul’s Sunday school hosts birthday parties and invites the after-school kids and other children from the congregation to celebrate with pizza, cake, games and loot bags, after singing a song for the congregation during morning worship.

Deidre Stirling recalls dropping off a tearful Lucy, now 11, at the after-school program for the first time a couple of years ago. But when she picked her up later that day, Lucy “could not explain how much fun she had,” Stirling says. “And she never missed a day since.”

Stirling adds, “She went from a kid who was extremely shy to just narrating the Easter play…so the last couple of years have been exponentially amazing.” Stirling’s five-year-old son has since joined the program.

While Stirling herself isn’t a member of St. Paul’s, she volunteers with the after-school program, including helping the children build their award-winning float for last year’s community Christmas parade. “I’m not a member, but I’m a part,” she says. “I feel welcome here.”

The program also gives teenage students the opportunity to earn volunteer hours while discovering their potential and building leadership skills. Currently, 15 youth help lead the program, in addition to an early childhood education student.

Volunteer Samantha Parsons, 18, has been so impacted by her experience that she was recently confirmed as a full member of St. Paul’s. “I enjoy being with the kids,” she says. “They look like they’re always happy to be here.”

These young volunteers, says Katelyn Brearley, St. Paul’s director of youth and children’s ministries, are the heart of the after-school program and vital to its success. “They help with pretty much everything,” she says. “I’m the director, but I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for all the help of the volunteers. And the kids really look up to [them].”

In April, St. Paul’s added a Friday evening drop-in program for youth in grades 6 to 12 — “a safe space for youth to come and hang out with their friends, play some board games and just to get them comfortable coming into the church and [feeling] like it’s something that belongs to them as well,” Brearley says.

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For Helen Reid, a longtime Catholic who was searching for a church with a good Sunday school program for her five-year-old granddaughter, St. Paul’s and the after-school program have changed both of their lives.

“I gotta say, it was the best decision I’ve made in a long time,” she says, her voice catching. “For my granddaughter, I’d say the biggest impact on her has been [that] she has a sense of belonging. She was a very shy child…she’d come in church with her head down. But she started in Sunday school and then she started in that program, and she absolutely loves it. It has done so much for her character.”

Reid became a member of St. Paul’s church two years ago and is now its secretary. She says the after-school program is “being nurtured by the whole congregation” and has helped grow the church; more than 40 new members have joined over the past couple of years.

As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and local business and community members, even those not affiliated with the church, have donated funds and food to support the program. They understand it’s about nurturing young people today and cultivating that sense of belonging, so that they grow into the kind, caring citizens of tomorrow.

“Most of the churches around today, they emphasize so much on doctrine. We don’t talk about doctrines at our after-school program, and we don’t talk about doctrines in our church on Sunday. So everyone finds a sense of belonging,” Muwowo says. “You just have to be you.”

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Linda Browne is a journalist in Dunville, N.L.

This article first appeared in the September/October 2026 issue of Broadview with the title “Finding Faith and Fellowship Through Youth.”