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A UMNS Report By Vicki Brown Sharon Lancaster said the deci-


sion to close Hyde Park United Methodist Church was a little easier once the members knew the building would remain stand- ing and Trinity United Methodist Church would move in. “I think that the district


and conference should become involved as early as possible when a church is beginning to have trouble. There should be a finan- cial audit of the church books at least every other year,” said Lancaster, who was married at Hyde Park and has spent much of her life as a member. Hyde commemorated its


100th anniversary in May 2010 and then held its last service a week later. The church was one of 11 United Methodist churches in Austin, Texas, that were part of the Ecclesiastes Project. The Ecclesiastes Project is an intensive church assessment that aimed to help struggling churches with average attendance of 150 or less look honestly at their finances, buildings, attendance and mis- sion and then decide how to move forward. The Rev. Bobbie Kaye Jones,


the district superintendent who conceived the project, had served most of her ministry in the Austin area, so she knew which churches were chronically stressed and distressed – and had been for 20 years. She also knew 21 United Methodist churches were located within five miles of the state capi- tol building. She gathered statistical infor-


mation about the churches, met with the pastors, got funding from the Texas Methodist Foundation for a staff and a facilitator, and began the intensive focus on the churches. Many members of the 11


churches chosen for the project


Robert Schnase Bishop, Missouri Area Sherry Habben


Director of Connectional Ministries Contact information 3601 Amron Court Columbia, Missouri 65202 E-mail for news submission: fk oenig@moumethodist.org


Opinions and Insights


Churches in decline help others get started


were angry at being included and believed the goal was simply to close them. “We did everything we could


to say, ‘None of this is your fault. Many decisions got us here.’ I told them I wasn’t going to close them; I was going to help them look at the options,” Jones said. She said it was helpful for many to know other churches were struggling, too. “We honored their pain. Some


said it felt good to know they weren’t alone.” So far, Hyde Park, which had


an average Sunday morning attendance of about 68 people, is the only project church that has closed.


One church increased its atten-


dance and no longer has a budget deficit; another voted to allow a new church start in its facili- ties. A third welcomed an equally small Korean church to share its facilities, and another re-engaged its outreach with the Hispanic community. One substantively increased its ministry to the sur- rounding community by working with other nonprofit organiza- tions, and yet another is creating a nonprofit and opening its doors to arts and humanities groups that want to use its space. The Rev. Sid Hall, pastor of


Trinity, the church that has moved into Hyde Park’s building and is renovating the space, said his church would have had a hard time staying in the neighborhood without the gift from Hyde Park. With about 230 attending worship each Sunday, Trinity outgrew its own space — which held about 110 people for worship —10 years ago. In fact, the church had already started a service at another location with more room. Slowly, members of the closed


church are embracing their new neighbor. “Some former Hyde Park mem- bers are coming every week; some


Members of Bethany United Methodist Church in Fairmont, N.D., were reluctant to leave after the final worship service on Sept. 12, 2010. A UMNS file photo courtesy of Bethany United Methodist Church.


are cautiously looking in,” Hall said. “The main thing we’ve done is try to be really respectful. I’ve told my leaders that when they see someone they don’t know, they might be from Hyde Park and when we have a break, I need you to be talking to them and making them feel welcome.” ‘In mission right up to the


end’ Struggling churches in rural


areas often have few options. There may be no church with which to merge and there is no huge demand for empty church buildings. When the seven members


still attending Bethany United Methodist Church in Fairmont, N.D., voted to close, they gave their furnishings to a small church that was destroyed by a fire. “They were active in mission


right up to the end,” said the Rev. Fern Bailey, the part-time local pastor who served the church. “It made them all feel good that we were able to give everything to Humboldt United Methodist.” Bailey said Humboldt, also a


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Vision: Growing, fruitful, vibrant congregations changing lives through Jesus Christ.


small congregation of about 50, had insurance money to repair the building, but members were not sure they could afford hym- nals, pews and other furnishings. A farmer is purchasing Bethany’s building once the closing is offi- cially accepted by the annual con- ference later this year. Mildred Osborn, a longtime


member, said fewer and fewer people lived in the area and many just went to different churches. She said she probably would attend Fairmont United Methodist, which is 10 miles from Bethany. “It was hard to see it close, but


there really wasn’t anything we could have done. Some members passed away, and that made a dif- ference,” she said. Ask the hard questions Jan Berger, a facilitator hired


by the Southwest Texas Annual (regional) Conference to work with the 11 churches in the Ecclesiastes Project, said United Methodists need to spend more time talking about what and who the church is for. “I don’t know that we do


enough talking about what it means to be the church. What does church look like, and who is it for? Many are small neigh- borhood churches. They’ve been doing what they’ve done since they started doing it. It feels good, and it’s always worked in the past, so why change?” Berger said. But even thriving churches need


to ask the hard questions and really look at how they are doing on a regular basis, Berger said. She and others involved in the Ecclesiastes Project hope to develop tools that can be used by others. “We’ve talked about setting


some benchmarks beside the quantitative ones like budget, membership, attendance. We would like to develop a tool to measure qualitative things like leadership and creativity.” The Rev. Sharon Moe, a district


superintendent in Tacoma, Wash., said churches shouldn’t be satis- fied just because they are taking care of themselves and are happy. “The United Methodist Church


is really about encouraging people to go out and change lives.”


Appointment Changes Jeannie Martin Webb, an elder in full connection formerly serv-


ing Russellville UMC in the Mid-State District, is on a voluntary per- sonal leave of absence. James Ireland, a retired elder, is now serving Russellville UMC.


Donald Ruthenberg, a retired elder, is now serving Woodlandville


UMC in the Mid-State District. Daniel Taylor, an elder in full connection, is no longer serving La


Croix UMC in the Southeast District. He is starting a new church in the Gateway Central District.


April 1, 2011


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