THOMPSON (AP) - The Rev. Mark Ellingson admitted that a prayer probably wasn't the usual way to kick off an auction sale.

But, in a house of worship, he couldn't think of a better way to start.

Standing over the same pulpit he had used for the past two decades, Ellingson led about 100 or so people in the Lord's Prayer, before giving a nod to 79-year-old Darwin Pasco to ring the bell and handing over the microphone to auctioneer Harley Camperud to hawk the contents of this town's generations-old Methodist church.

The Thompson United Methodist Church, along state Highway 15 on the town's western edge, would have celebrated its 125th anniversary next year, Ellingson said. Instead, it's disbanding as an organization because of dwindling members and a lack of heat in the church after high water destroyed its lone furnace.

"It's not good stewardship of our money to remain here," Ellingson said. "It's not a question of what's going to happen; the church will cease to exist at the end of the year."

The church building essentially has been shuttered for about a year, when the last big Harvest Festival was held in 2006. Its members, about a half-dozen regulars, will be absorbed by other churches in the area, and some will continue to attend Holmes United Methodist Church in nearby Reynolds, where Ellingson also serves as pastor.

The Holmes church has been serving as a home-away-from-home church for the Thompson Methodist members since spring 2006.

Faye Winters, 74, a longtime treasurer and lifelong member of the Thompson Methodist church, said, even though Tuesday's sale of the church's contents signals an end is nearer, it's nice to have closure to something that has been looming for years.

"There's a sadness, but in a way, it's a bit of relief," she said. "Our members are all up in years, and it was getting awful hard to have a church here."

Bruce Bohlman was at the auction, too. The former Grand Forks district judge was born and raised in Thompson, and he attended the Methodist church. As he scoped out the wares and antiques before the auction Tuesday, he reflected on the many Sundays back in the 1940s and '50s he spent in the old church.

"It was always a small church," Bohlman said. "In terms of numbers, you would have maybe 30 people back in those days, but of course, on Christmas Eve and Easter, everything back to the wall would be filled up."

Bohlman, like many, said they were more interested in snatching up a bit of nostalgia than finding a great deal. He said he had his eye on the church's "Cradle Roll," a large framed piece with a list of children born into the church, the first entry dating back to 1911. The names of many Bohlmans still can be read on the roll, including Bruce's.

But Bohlman knew the hot items on people's minds were the church's pieces of ornate stained glass.

"They will be the most important item, I think," Bohlman said.

Lydell Sannes, of Thompson, walked away with the stained glass, including the church's largest piece, for $1,200. If it was built today, it would cost as much as $9,000, according to one estimate.

"That's the reason why I went to the sale," Sannes said. He said he plans to use the windows in a new garage he'll build next year for his antique car collection.

Ellingson said a members' conference is scheduled Nov. 17 to formally announce the end of the Thompson Methodist Church organization. The church building and land likely will be put up for sale.

Pasco, a lay leader who's been affiliated with the church since his parents moved to Thompson in 1934, said he's ready to move on.

"Time moves on, and I'm old anyway," he said. "Sometimes, you just have to let things go."