HISTORY OF ST. BARNABAS EPISCOPAL MISSION

In the 1880s, the small ranching and lumber-based communities of southern Siskiyou County, California, were still in many ways the "wild west," tucked as they were into mountains where access, especially in winter, was difficult and amenities were few. Although Portuguese extended families operated farms and dairies in the high desert beyond Weed (six miles north of Mt. Shasta), the primacy of the lumber industry, and the relatively large proportion of single men employed by the mills, meant that brothels and saloons lined the main streets of Weed and Sisson (later Mt. Shasta) some years into the twentieth century. Dunsmuir, owing to its centrality to railroad operations after the lines were extended into the area in 1886, was for many years both the most prosperous and the largest of these communities, but even there the Episcopalian presence began as very much of a missionary endeavor.

The first, small Episcopal congregations in Sisson, Mott, Dunsmuir and McCloud were served by circuit-riding priests from St. Mark's, Yreka (forty-five miles to the north of Mt. Shasta). Surviving records, which are scanty at points, indicate that the Sisson church was, by the late 1880s, known as the Episcopal Church of All Angels. The McCloud congregation took the name of St. John the Apostle and consecrated its church in 1904. In Dunsmuir, Episcopalians chose St. Barnabas as their patron and in the early to mid-1890s the congregation purchased a handsome wooden church with steeple which had been built previously by area Presbyterians. The congregation continued to worship there until the building was destroyed by fire in 1924.

St. Barnabas had obtained its first full-time priest twenty years earlier, in 1904, but in the following years there were numerous periods when the congregation was without an incumbent, a difficult situation which did not end until 1922. Two years after the loss of their church to fire, the people of St. Barnabas set about building a sturdy little stone church on Dunsmuir's main street, which was consecrated in April 1925 and served the congregation through the Depression and the subsequent years of war and prosperity. By mid-century, of all the various area congregations that had been planted, only St. Barnabas had survived, serving not only Dunsmuir, but also the handful of Episcopalians in Mt. Shasta (formerly Sisson), McCloud, Mott (which, as a town, had ceased to exist, though homes remained in the area) and Weed.

The 1960s, however, saw significant changes come to Dunsmuir. Reductions in railroad services, with a consequent decline in area employment, and the radical social changes of the decade both had a devastating impact on the local economy. As church-going ceased to be the cultural norm and an earlier generation of congregants grew older, St. Barnabas - like so many congregations of that period - faced declining numbers. Moreover, its building, for all its beauty, was by then nearly fifty years old and in need of serious and costly repairs which the congregation could not afford. Accordingly, in 1969 the decision was reluctantly made to sell the building (it was purchased by local Baptists, who still worship there) and regroup.

With the loss of their building, the people of St. Barnabas moved to a small, former retail building on the northern side of Dunsmuir. After fourteen years in this less than ideal situation, the congregation in 1983 set the goal for itself of building its own church. The continuing decline of Dunsmuir, coupled with the growth of Mt. Shasta as the regional center between Redding and Yreka, led to the decision to relocate St. Barnabas eight miles north in Mt. Shasta. Ten acres just outside the city limits were purchased in 1984 and fully paid for in 1985. In 1987, building began and the church was dedicated in 1988.

The congregation remained relatively small however, and, despite periodic ministry from Fathers Howard Park, Will McClain and Richard Green, St. Barnabas experienced several lengthy periods without a resident priest. By the turn of the twenty-first century, despite a strong sense of community among those members who remained, attendance at some services had been reduced to a dozen or so. Newcomers had the impression of a handful of faithful but dispirited communicants who were being worn down with the effort of maintaining the congregation's life.

The call of the Rev. Julie Honig Smith as Vicar in 2002 proved an enlivening turning point. Although Smith could only be offered a half-time, she proved an indefatigable spiritual leader, drawing in new members, bringing a new sense of optimism and enthusiasm, restoring much-needed organization to every aspect of congregational life, and creating a strong cadre of lay leaders. When Smith left the mission in the late summer of 2005, the size of the average Sunday congregation had tripled and a new spirit of enthusiasm, confidence and mission was, and remains, clearly in evidence.

In June, 2008, the Rev. Ted Ridgway -- a retired priest living in Shasta Lake (fifty miles to the south), who had been serving the congregation as regular supply since Mother Julie's departure -- accepted the bishop's appointment as Priest-in-Charge. The congregation has also raised up two candidates for Holy Orders, Jack Churchill (to the deaconate) and Larry Holben (to the priesthood), and their ordinations are anticipated within the next year and a half. The cadre of lay leaders has expanded and continues to function effectively, both liturgically and administratively.

ST. BARNABAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
701 Lassen Lane, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067
(530) 926-5326

www.snowcrest.net/stbarnabas