In 146 years, the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sharpsburg has faced its share of challenges.

Church founders constructed miles of fortifications to protect against the Confederate army in Gettysburg in 1863. During World War I, pastors of the church were accused of treason for conducting Sunday services in German. And in 1936, overflow from the Allegheny River flooded the church and nearly destroyed the chapel.

But its latest challenge -- a slow decline in membership -- has been a daunting one..

Because of those dwindling numbers and of diminishing funds, the church will close its doors for good Sunday after more than a century in the Sharpsburg community.

At the end of May, the church council decided in a 22-7 vote that the church on Clay Street -- once a fixture in the German-American community and the congregation of the Heinz family -- no longer possessed the financial resources to continue operating.

"As it became clear that this church would not be able to continue, I think I underestimated the grief that every member of this congregation would feel," the Rev. Mark Ruppert said. "But everyone here is experiencing a profound sense of loss."

For the first 100 years of its existence, parish life at the church flourished. In 1963, a total of 263 children were enrolled in the Sunday school; 138 children were students in the church's day school. About 300 adults attended church each Sunday.

But as factory work disappeared and young people moved out of Sharpsburg, church membership and day school enrollment declined. In 2004, the K-8 school was reduced to only pre-K and kindergarten classes. The following year, the church council closed the school completely.

Now, church attendance hovers between 40 and 50 parishioners each Sunday, most of whom are between 70 and 80 years old. The only children in the Sunday school are the children of the pastor.

Joan Brand, a former member of the church council, said she recognizes that it is necessary to close the church. The church's savings account was dwindling, she said, and it would have been near impossible to heat the large building for another winter. Moreover, with no day school and only a small pool of elderly volunteers, the church could no longer adequately serve the Sharpsburg community, she said.

Still, Ms.Brand said, it is heartrending to leave the church after 73 years as a member.

"Now when I go to church on Sunday, I feel so sad when I walk in there," Ms. Brand said. "I was baptized here, I went to school here, I was married here, my children were baptized here. All those important moments in my life and my family's life -- they happened here."

The property of the First Evangelical Luthern Church -- a chapel and adjoining day school on Clay Street -- will be sold, though congregation members said they hope the buildings continue to function as a church. The council will donate the proceeds from the sale of the property to a variety of mission groups, Lutheran schools and other congregations.

Another Sharpsburg congregation has expressed interest in purchasing the property, the Rev. Ruppert said. Though he declined to name the church, he said the potential buyer is not a Lutheran congregation.

"Part of the grief of the loss, and especially of the sale of the church, is that we lose all control over the building," the Rev. Ruppert said. "I hope they don't tear the pews out and don't do anything with the beautiful altar. But we can't control any of that now."

Also, the Heinz family, whose members in the early 1900s worshipped alongside German immigrant steelworkers in the church, contributed a series of large stained-glass windows depicting various scenes from the New Testament. It was installed in 1913.

Members of the church have approached the Heinz History Center to discuss the future of the windows, though there are no plans yet for the foundation to preserve or restore them.

"The windows are a dark kind of beautiful," the Rev. Ruppert said. "They're the focal point of the church. They speak the gospel to the people in the church."

The Rev. Arnold Kromphardt, the former church pastor and a former principal of the day school, said that the greatest loss in the church's closing is not the sale of the property, but the dispersal of its members.

Some members will relocate to other congregations throughout the region and several members have already begun to look for a new spiritual home at Evangelical Lutheran churches in Millvale and Shaler.

"I've been to a lot of places and churches, ... but the one church that really sticks out in my mind is the First Evangelical Lutheran Church," the Rev. Kromphardt said. "I was given more love by the people there than anywhere else in the world."

Sunday's closing ceremony at the church will be a moving one, say members. The Rev. Ruppert will extinguish the eternal candle hanging at the front of the church, strip the altar bare of its decorations and he will carry the large wooden cross out the front door of the chapel.

Though the closing service will likely be an emotional one, Ms. Brand said, she looks forward to seeing the church in the hands of a vibrant congregation with many young people.

"One-hundred and forty-six years is a long time, and there is nothing for us to be ashamed of," Ms. Brand said.

"We didn't want to close, but you can only do so much and then God says it's time to go."