The Uniting Church will abandon its state heritage-listed church in the middle of Mount Gambier because of escalating costs to fix the 154-year-old building's steeple.

The church's pastor says the controversial move will allow him and the congregation to focus on Christian ministry rather than the building that services are held in.

An architecture lecturer says the sale of churches is a growing trend but it can allow heritage buildings to stay standing rather than falling into disrepair.

The Mount Gambier congregation voted on October 12 to move out of St Andrew's church on Elizabeth Street and to sell the building and the 9,500 square metres of land that surrounds it.

The vote came ahead of a deadline of October 30 set by the Uniting Church's statewide body, known as a synod, to make

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