One of Orange’s older churches closed this past weekend, a sign of the times that have seen mainstream Christian congregations in New England slowly shrink in numbers, if not devotion.

Sunday saw the final worship service for Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church, a 130-year-old church that once attracted 200 congregants to weekly services but more typically saw a dozen in recent times.

Sunday’s final service was bittersweet and soaked in sadness, for this had been the heart of Christian life for scores of local families for generations.

But there was a silver lining in the overcast mood to which many who spoke Sunday referred. The Bethany Lutheran facilities will be gifted to neighboring Mission Covenant Church one block away and will continue to be used for various social and faith-based activities. Mission Covenant had its start about the same time as Bethany, also serving Swedish Lutherans in town, and the two have worked more closely than ever in recent times.

The Rev. Mary Hendrickson, who serves as a pastor for both Bethany Lutheran and Mission Covenant, sees that silver lining clearly. By joining with the neighboring church, she has said, they may be able to offer more to parishioners with the combined resources of two congregations. Hendrickson said the consolidation reflects a wider push by church leaders in the community to work together, to establish interfaith groups and to create new ways of helping others — which after all is at the heart of the Christian faith.

Already, Mission Covenant has begun hosting the free community meals formerly held at Bethany Lutheran.

The blending is part of a larger ecumenical community that local churches have been working to build in recent times.

Mission Covenant’s Leadership Team leader Mercedes Clingerman-Hunt noted that more than two years ago she started the Interfaith Neighbors Connecting group, made up of leaders from area churches working together to better serve the community’s needs.

Former Bethany pastors Karl Bittenbender and Andrea Hoslett pointed out the ways the Bethany Lutheran has always reached outside its walls to help others. They mentioned how the church has run charities, scholarships, and provided space to groups like the Franklin County Community Meals Program and the Pioneer Valley Junior Women’s Club.

For many, Bethany Lutheran had been the site of baptisms, weddings and funerals, where confessions were made, sins forgiven, and a community was built. Now, that work can continue, albeit from within the walls of a new home in Mission Covenant.

It will be a different structure on the outside, but the same spirit within.