Centennial United Church has solved a life or death problem which faces many downtown churches: What to do when most of the congregation moves to the suburbs?
Centennial's solution: Invite two other congregations to share your church building - and the expenses. Every Sunday there are three separate worship services in Centennial Church.
The regular congregation meets at 10 a.m. and two Japanese-Canadian congregations worship at 11:30. The three congregations agree that their unique all-under-the-one-roof experiment has succeeded famously.
Centennial United Church, on Dovercourt Rd. just south of Bloor, was built 60 years ago by Rev. E. A. Pearson, father of Prime Minister Lester Pearson (who lived in the parsonage as a child).
In its heyday 30 years ago, the church had 1,500 members and Sunday morning and evening services were packed. After the last war, the congregation declined as old members moved out of the district and were replaced by non-Prostestant immigrants.
Today, there are only 300 members. Sunday attendance is about 100, but Centennial's new minister (since November 1964) Rev. William Morris is confident that this will grow.
It was five years ago that Centennial's shrinking congregation squarely faced the issue: How to salvage the church when the burden of expenses was falling heavily on a few people.
The Japanese United Church congregation, which at the time was looking for a church home, was invited to worship at and share Centennial's facilities. The latter accepted and Centennial Church took a new lease on life.

Pooled pews save downtown church - Toronto Star, May 1965

There are two Japanese congregations: the Issei "first generation" church, of which Rev. Makio Norisue is minister, and the Nisei "second generation" lead by Rev. Min Takada. The Issei services are in Japanese. The Nisei use English. The Issei meet in the main church sanctuary. The Nisei have their own futuristic-style chapel, seating 200, on the second floor of the church. Mr. Norisue, who came from Japan in 1960, has nearly 400 in his Issei congregation. Mr. Takada, who was born in British Columbia of Buddhist parents, has 300 Nisei. The three congregations share everything equally. All facilities of the building and the expenses of maintaining it.
There are at least 20 separate functions every week in the church - young peoples' meetings, couples clubs, social get-togethers, and prayer meetings (50 Japanese-Canadians turn out every Wednesday night for Bible study and prayer).
The only problem is keeping track of everybody's comings and goings. In the early days of the union, the Centennial and Issei congregations both inadvertently scheduled elaborate social functions for the same evening. Result: chaos.
To avoid this kind of confusion, a monthly calendar is posted with all congregational events-to-come listed in Japanese and English. Everything in the church is bilingual. Occasionally an unsuspecting stranger drops into the Sunday 11:30 service. He generally reacts with acute consternation when Mr. Norisue opens the service in ringing tones - in Japanese. Annie Cairns, who has been Centennial;s Church's secretary for more than 30 years, says of the three congregations: "We are all one big, happy family." To which everybody says "Amen" - in English and Japanese, of course.