Dreaming and Scheming … our ongoing mustard seed conversation.
At a time when the challenges faced by mainline Christian congregations, and UCC Congregations more broadly, make national headlines, we are blessed to have a Congregation that is sustaining itself and a budget that we can manage within our means. We do see challenges on the horizon, however, and part of our goal is to consider how to face those challenges head-on and consider how they might become opportunities.
Last year, Sharon, Scott and Jen Sandoval attended a conference on church finance strategies. In a discussion of how faith communities might cultivate revenue streams, the facilitators encouraged participants to encourage how Congregations could live into their faith at the same time.
At FCCB, our greatest financial asset is our property; our beautiful sanctuary, the adjacent classrooms/spaces and the large parcel that is nestled in the Lettered Streets neighborhood not too far from downtown. This asset also can pose challenges. We all know that the old furnace is struggling. Older buildings bring with them rising maintenance costs and challenges of upkeep.
We love our church home and do our best to find ways to share it with others in our broader community: not only the Ground Floor but also the AARP tax filing group, Bellingham Music Club, Kulshan Chorus, Garden Street United Methodist. Doing so honors our church space by bringing the community in; in many cases it also helps to sustain us financially.
What would it mean to use—and to share—our most vital resource—our church property and land—on a larger scale? What are the needs in the community that our space—either currently as designed or as dreamed for the future—could sustain? And how, by using our land, our building, might we, in turn, bolster our own Congregation’s financial viability?
When I joined as Vice Moderator this February, I stepped into nascent conversations, both informal and formal, that have been bubbling up—in Church leadership and in members of the Congregation. For example, we know that Bellingham is in desperate need of childcare services. And affordable housing remains elusive. Could we rethink at least part of our space in ways that might help address those needs? Are there other ways that our building and space could be an asset—again, not just to us but also to those around us?
In these conversations, some have dared to dream big, considering, for example, whether we could partner with a non-profit provider to affordable childcare, or senior living with a continuum of care, or perhaps even both? There are models—within the UCC and outside our denomination—that we can explore; and we know that the city and state could be valuable resources.
There are, of course, challenges and tradeoffs. Our church basement, while expansive, lacks daylight on most sides and is not very well suited for living spaces or early childhood classrooms. If we were to remodel our church office and classroom space to accommodate new needs, what would be lost (gathering space, connections to our own church history) and what could be gained? If we do consider radical renovations, how do we nurture our community in the meantime, not just spiritually and physically? How do we honor the past and the present while continuing to look to the future? How do we sustain community-building and our spiritual life if our extra hours are focused on partnership development and fundraising for a new physical space?
If you have been part of these conversations, I hope that I am doing justice to your ideas and your visions. And if this is the first time you are hearing of some of these more audacious plans, don’t worry! We have much to consider and will continue to do so.
Take one of us aside during Fellowship hour to ask questions or offer suggestions—and mark your calendar for the next conversation April 12 after worship.
As I write these letters, I do so with some trepidation of disruption and excitement about the new possibilities that such disruption can bring. And I am excited to see where the Spirit will lead us as we continue to explore.
In faith,
Kate Destler, Vice Moderator
