First published in University Friends’ The Light May 2020
We’re writing to you today with the hopes of sharing information and encouraging creative thinking. The transition team has been reading the book The In-between Church by Alice Mann, which discusses the churches in transition, especially as it relates to size transitions.
In last month’s newsletter, Catherine described the different size categories the book uses to talk about congregations: family size (0-50); pastoral size (50-150); program size (150-350); and corporate size (350-500+). She also wrote, “As the Transition Team reflected on these ideas, we realized that University Friends is a pastoral-size church with a program-size identity (and a program-size committee structure and staff) and a corporate-size building.”
The In-between Church also talks about the fact that having a sanctuary less than half full can actively prevent new people from attending. Our sanctuary is a gorgeous space that was made to seat 300+ people. On a good day, our attendance is about 85. On holidays, we might reach 150+, but every Sunday isn’t Christmas Eve or the Singing Quakers.
As the transition team was talking about this fact, we see three possible directions forward. (1) Selling all or part of the building. (2) Keeping the building, but making changes or improvements. (3) Do nothing/ not make any changes.
- Selling all or part of the building- We could sell part of the building, bricking off the old side from the new. We could even sell one side and demolish the other to sell the land.
If we were to sell or divest ourselves from building entirely, we could have a fresh start. We could keep some or all of the money to invest in whatever the church will look like in its future iteration. We could also give all, or a portion to our congregants who are in financial need.
- Keeping the building- If we were to keep the building we could make it ADA compliant so that it’s user friendly for everyone. We could even lease out all or part of it to a local non-profit or even another congregation to help pay the bills. In the sanctuary, we could take out current seating and implement something more versatile that could work for a variety of situations and make the space feel less empty.
- Do nothing- We could continue as things are. Without an unexpected influx of people (and money), we would pull money out of different accounts to make up for our budget shortfall every year until nothing remains.
This article is meant to be the beginning of a conversation about our future. We have an opportunity to think creatively. The transition team would like to invite everyone to be a part of this. We will be trying to meet with small groups of congregants to get a wider perspective.
So please, begin to think and talk about this. And as you do, also consider, what projects would you like to focus on? What’s a ministry that you would like to be a part of?
The building and our finances have been such a focus that it’s difficult to discern what programs or missions we should do. Programming shouldn’t be about attendance or raising finances. It should be about following the Spirit’s leading.
What does a more financially stable future look like for us? How could we be freed up to love our neighbors?
