On Saturday morning, church members attended a business meeting to celebrate our most recent activities and ministries. Members heard reports from our Finance Chairperson, our Trustees Chairperson, our Council on Ministries Chairperson, and the Pastor. Our District Superintendant, Rev. Chuck Horton, presided over the meeting as well as presenting ways we can improve upon our outreach and invitational process. However, the report generating the most discussion was the one made by the Facilities Study Committee.
During the past year, this committee was given the task of compiling a list of all our ministry areas and how they use our current buildings. They also gathered information concerning the current and anticipated future needs of these areas – children, youth and adults. One final task involved assessing the local community and how our facilities and ministries effectively minister to the City of Marlow and the surrounding area.
Based upon this information the committee looked at our buildings and thoughtfully considered their usefulness and effectiveness for long-term ministry. The looked at Sunday School space, the Fellowship Hall, our kitchen, the sanctuary, office space, children’s areas and youth areas to determine the adequacy of facilities to sustain and grow with our ministries. Their conclusion is that the current AOC House, once used as the parsonage for pastoral families, needed major repairs and updating. Ultimately it was determined that the property would best be served with a new facility. Thus, their proposal to the Church Conference was to remove the existing house and build a multi-purpose facility that all areas of the church could utilize. I believe the vote passed unanimously.
As a result, I suspect you will have plenty of questions concerning this decision. They might include… What does this mean for our church? What will happen to the existing building? How will we pay for a building project? Is this the right time to build? Who determines what we build and how it looks? How soon until we break ground?
Given the space of this article, I can answer a couple of those questions. As for what this decision means for the church, it means we have an exciting future ahead of us. The more we envision what our ministries will be doing over the next twenty years, the more we realize that a newer facility best serves this purpose. A new building opens up many more ministry areas and ways to minister to a whole new section of our community. This will not only attract new members, it gives us a great way to build upon our already strong foundation and history.
Our next step involves the selection of a Building Committee. By Discipline, the Lay Leadership Committee will determine who serves on this important committee. Once determined, this group of people will start the process of determining use of space, building design, costs, timelines, and many other factors in such a project.
Please know, that from this point forward there are plenty of times in which we will involve the congregation and district for approval of general plans and specific details. Who knows, perhaps in eighteen to twenty months we could see some wonderful changes across the alley.
Please pray about this step and the ones to come. Pray for the committees and leadership, pray for how steel, concrete, brick, mortar, sheetrock, and wood can be transformed into a place of inspiration and ministry for the next fifty or more years.
I look forward to seeing you in the decision making place on Sunday,
