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Church sells home, starts anew
Interim Pastor Allyson Knight makes announcements before worship at a recent service at the Bethany Christian United Parish’s new location, a former restaurant in Worcester. The congregation moved to the new location after selling their church’s traditional building. Photo by Tiffany Vail > Comment on this article through our Discussion Forum May, 2002
By Tiffany Vail
A lot of churches would have given up and closed their doors.
Bethany Christian United Parish in Worcester was watching its numbers dwindle – 90 – 50 – 35. At the same time, the congregation was working hard to maintain a huge, antique brick church building that needed $300,000 in repair work.
“There were so few of them in the building that they were spending the limited spiritual energy they had on being property managers,” said Interim Pastor Allyson Knight. “Every council meeting was spent talking about what was happening with the building.”
Last June, the congregation decided to change all that, agreeing to sell what to many of them had been a church home for generations. But they also decided that handing the keys over to an up-and-coming Apostolic church would not mean closing the doors on their own church’s 112-year history.
“We really wanted to stay together as a church family,” said member Joan Dube. “The building is just a building, although one with very fond memories. It’s like a book, and the building is just the cover. It’s what’s inside that’s important, and that’s us, the people.”
The congregation has rented space in a nearby storefront that was formerly a restaurant and began worshipping there on Easter. Members now plan on turning their energies toward bringing back wayward members and doing mission outreach work. The church, which is Open and Affirming, has thoughts of using the former restaurant kitchen and bar for a coffee house with Bible study, a soup kitchen and maybe a support program for gay partners with children.
“This is reconsidering what it means to be the body of Christ,” Knight said. “There are those who think this is a brave new vision.”
Knight and church members acknowledge that it has been difficult holding on to that vision through the long and emotional process of moving. Bethany United is a merged congregation – United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ and American Baptist – so the building housed the joint accumulations of three churches.
“It is really interesting to be out there and be exposed (in the new location, above).” - Allyson Knight Moderator Sue Sulkoski spent months and months of Saturdays at the old church, going through old records and belongings, throwing out some and packing up others.
“It was a very long haul,” she said. “My family has been members of this church since I was eight. There is a lot of emotional attachment there. But I felt God saying this was my mission, I must get it done.”
She also said she felt God’s hand guiding the process, from the Apostolic church asking to buy the building just days after the congregation decided to sell, to attorneys and landlords who have bent over backwards to be helpful.
“The move has actually been a religiously affirming experience,” Sulkoski said. “We’ve seen a lot of good come in people where we didn’t expect it.”
Church members have already begun to glimpse the positive outcomes of their decision.
The old building was so large that even when someone was there, the front door had to be kept locked because it was so far from the office. In the new location, people have been stopping by to find out who the new tenants are. The first visitors were two 11-year-old boys.
“It is really interesting to be out there and be exposed,” said Knight.
The new location is cozier for the 25 active worshippers, and the sound from the piano and soloist fill the space rather then getting lost in a big sanctuary.
“The old structure (above) was so big that it became cold.” - Joan Dube “The old structure was so big that it became cold,” Dube said.
The new location also has its own parking lot, and is accessible for those who use wheelchairs.
Nancy Sorenson had been a member of Bethany United since 1989. But after suffering a stroke, she had to start using a wheelchair and could no longer get into worship. Easter Sunday marked the first time in three years she had been able to attend.
“I’m excited that the church is open. I’m excited that I can come,” Thomas said. “I’m sad when I see the old steeple, but the church is the people.”
The folks of Bethany United don’t know exactly what their future holds. They have talked about building or buying a new location in a year or two, once their call to ministry becomes clearer. In the meantime, they know they have taken an important step forward.
“The future is a question mark, but it always is,” said Sulkoski. “We will go where God leads us.”
