Topeka ? Two century-old Methodist churches in north-central Kansas are disbanding, victims of the steady decline in the area’s population.

Cheyenne United Methodist Church, organized in 1884 in rural Osborne County, voted Dec. 1 to disband.

The church, located northeast of Luray, was down to 22 members and averaging only 11 people at Sunday worship services, said the Rev. Max Clayton of Salina.

“There is a sadness that a church that has influenced the county to that extent is closing,” he said. “But on the other hand, there are life cycles we have for everything in life, and churches are not immune to those cycles.

The 112-year-old Morrowville United Methodist Church in Washington County will hold its final worship service on Jan. 2.

Morrowville has about 180 residents, and the church lists 40 members on its rolls. But fewer than 10 people usually have attended Sunday services the last couple of years, the Rev. Phil Morris said.

Only eight members attended a meeting Nov. 10 when the unanimous decision was made to disband, church treasurer Janet Elliott said.

Elliott said the projected cost of keeping the church open in 2005 was $1,298 per month, including utilities, insurance and Morrowville’s share of Morris’ pastoral salary.

Elliott and her husband, Norman, noted the population decline in north-central Kansas over the past five decades.

“We had 25,000 people in Washington County in the 1950s, and now we’ve barely got 6,500,” Norman Elliott said. “That kind of decline can’t go on forever without consequences.”

The youngest member of the congregation is a woman in her mid-50s, Janet Elliott said.

Morris, who also serves Methodist churches at Haddam, Linn and Washington, said he would preach a message of continuity in his final sermon at Morrowville.

“The ministry in this place will soon end, but the ministry of the church at large goes on,” he said, “and for the membership it may occur in a different place, but we’re still the church.”