(These remarks were shared at the beginning of the Christ Church UM Townhall on Sunday, April 18 to discuss the Pompano/Parkway proposal. To learn more about this, please visit Pompano Proposal
Our story here at Christ Church United Methodist is a part of God’s larger story.
Long ago, the prophet Habakkuk wrote: “There is still a vision for the appointed time; it testifies to the end; it does not deceive. If it delays, wait for it; for it is surely coming and will not be late.” (Habakkuk 2:3, CEB)
The prophet shared these words in a changing time, when the faithful people of God were experiencing sadness and grief over the end of what was, along with the hope and excitement of what could be. The God who had been with the Hebrew people from the beginning would not only walk with them through these changes of life, but also give them a new and exciting future, one that honored the past and anticipated a hope not yet realized. The prophet’s words, though spoken long ago, have a timeless quality to them. They give direction to God’s people and communities across time (including us today) who find themselves at the intersection of what was and what will be in a changing world.
This proposal brings together three stories: First United Methodist Church-Pompano Beach, Christ Church United Methodist, and Parkway United Methodist Church. For many years, these three congregations have faithfully done God’s work and changed lives. All three have raised up children into faith, cared for the hurting and broken, buried the dead, and baptized into new life. All three came into existence because someone risked stepping beyond what was to live into something new.
Today, all of us are experiencing a changing church environment: COVID 19 and debates over social issues only accelerated and highlighted changes that have been happening in churches for many years now. Many congregations know the difficulties of trying to maintain large buildings at a time when people are giving less to churches. Almost everyone, even without data analysis, has a sense that we are in changing times. The church is not the same as it was 30, 15, even 5 years ago.
Change is not always bad, though. It can be creative, the canvass for God’s newest designs and expressions. These changing times are allowing churches to have a smaller property footprint in order to focus on ministry. Like the people in the times of the prophets, it has provided us an opportunity to refocus on growing deep, rather than wide, to focus on things like compassion, justice, spirituality, and service. It has made space for creative and innovative ways of living out these ministries.
Today, we will have the chance to learn a little bit more about this Pompano/Parkway proposal, to ask questions, and have conversation. We will try to respond to as many questions as we can either today or in the days ahead. Still, we don’t have all the answers to all of the questions, yet. We can’t. Even though much thought, prayer, planning, and anticipation has gone into all of this, we know that we are following the movement of the Holy Spirit and we can’t know or anticipate everything. It will require faith and trust in God’s guidance.
The Holy Spirit never promised to make us risk averse…only to give what is needed for the next faithful step.
While in some ways we are walking into the unknown…we do so with these grounding principles:
1. The God who did something new by forming FUMC-Pompano Beach, Parkway UMC, and Christ Church UMC is the same God working now, inviting us to consider something new.
2. We carry a call and a passion to serve the poor, vulnerable, broken, forgotten, excluded, and marginalized people of our community.
3. We have a passion to be more ministry than property focused. In the end, God did not call us to be caretakers of property, but caretakers of people.
For me, the benefits of the proposal are twofold: 1. To be able to do the serve and justice ministries that we are called to in new and creative ways, with a smaller footprint. 2. It will provide more financial stability for doing the work of the church. In this era when people are giving less to churches through offerings, but increasingly needing the church, income from an endowment established with proceeds from the sale will be a source of financial security for years to come. It becomes a way of honoring the legacy of these three congregations and continuing the work and ministry that God has asked of them.
Thank you for taking the time today to come and be a part of this Townhall, and even more, this discernment process. Your voice is important and though we may not all agree or see things in the same way, we honor God in our honest, gentle and respectful dialogue. May we pray and wonder together about all that God is doing in these changing times.
“There is still a vision for the appointed time…for it is surely coming and will not be late.” Amen.
Together we are the hands and feet of Jesus,
Brett
If God is calling you to become a member of Christ Church United Methodist, we would love to share this discipleship life with you. Please visit Christ Church UM Membership for more information and next steps.
