"One Church, Two Wonderful Campuses"

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we have made our way through the early stages of working through and living into our new relationship with Eno UMC. This process has been a bit like building a bridge as we cross it and so it has been difficult to share a wider vision of what this relationship might look like as we move forward. I have also been a bit reticent to make definitive statements, wanting to make sure that we—Union Grove, Eno, the district, and the conference, are all on the same page. What we are doing is new and unique, not at all the same way that our church has done things in the past.  

Earlier this summer as our intern, Dave Swanson, prepared a devotion for our summer swim party, he came across the idea of mutual adoption as a good way to describe our new relationship with Eno. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.”

Adoption offers two levels of invitation. The first is that of being joined together, grafted into, becoming a part of. The separation that fallen humanity created in our relationship with God was removed, bridged forever through the gift of God’s love in Christ. We are received again as part of the family. We “are no longer slaves to sin, but children of God, and if children then also heirs of God through Christ.” Paul’s description of adoption in Galatians, however, doesn’t stop with just a family reunion. It invites us to something substantially deeper and profound.

Paul tells us that in Christ, we are introduced and invited to an unprecedented intimacy with God. Jesus addresses God as, “Abba! Father!” (Daddy, Papa) Nowhere in the Old Testament is God directly addressed as Father. Yet, Jesus always addressed God using this very intimate, family-centered term, the way a child in everyday language would address their father.

Suddenly we are free in God, like a child is free with their parents. Our relationship is intimate and reverent. This intimacy is a freedom to share ourselves openly, honestly, fearlessly in God’s presence. “We are free to be spontaneous, personal and uninhibited.” As God’s love in Christ has bridged the gap created by sin and impassable by the law, our relationship with God is not a formal one; it is a family one.

Understanding our new relationship with Eno UMC as mutual adoption allows us to live into this model of relationship we have been shown and experience in Christ. Union Grove and Eno have been joined together, made one. Eno is now officially a campus of Union Grove. We can together share the gifts, resources and potential of both settings. We are, “One church, with two wonderful campuses.”  

But adoption offers the opportunity for so much more than just 

a formal means of existing together. As family we are invited to grow together, reach out together, to become more together than we could have been apart. There are opportunities available in the Union Grove community that are not available in the Eno community. There are opportunities available in the Eno community that are not available in the Union Grove community.  Our new relationship is much more than a formal one, it is a family one.

 A reminder as we kick off our new fall schedule at Union Grove. Sunday School will now begin at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10:30 a.m. I also invite you to join us on our Eno campus at 5:30 p.m. for our “New Roots” service.

 

“New Roots,” is intended to be an alternative service for us. Most obviously it is a different time, late Sunday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. Though firmly immersed in the tradition that shapes and molds us, this service will be a bit less formal and bit more contemporary than our Sunday morning service. Our hope and prayer is this service will be inviting to folks who are not available on Sunday mornings or who would prefer something new and different.

 

Here are several questions that were asked at our Church Council meeting last week. I hope my responses to these will be helpful. If you have additional questions or concerns, please call or email. We want to do our best to answer all questions and move forward in a positive manner.

 

We would love for you to share questions and comments so that others might benefit from our discussion. You are invited to post below these questions.

 

1. Why Eno and Why Now?

 

For the past several years we have been talking and praying about opportunities that God might have for us to continue to reach out to our community. We sensed there was something more, but were not sure what that something more might be.

Among several options, we’ve discussed starting a new worship service(s) and tried to think outside the box as bit when discerning how and where that might happen. Might God be calling us to reach out to health care workers through a store front/coffee shop in the Waterstone development or some other alternative setting? Is there a desire/need for an additional or alternative service on the Union Grove campus?

As we have looked at a number of possibilities over the past several years, Eno UMC kept popping up in a variety of settings and conversations. We knew they were struggling and yet kept hearing about how committed their congregation was to their church and how hard they were working to move forward.

 Four years ago we began to have conversations with our District Superintendant about ways that we might help or be in partnership with Eno. I confessed that I was not sure how we might help, but that their name kept popping up and there was a sense that we should find a way to respond.

 Our conversations with the DS began to take on a more serious tone earlier this year. Without taking you through the long and winding conversations that ensued, Laura Johnson and I both felt that if we were to be involved with Eno in an official nature, it would be best if we were both appointed there as their pastors. That way we could truly work in this new “campus” model, joining the gifts of both campuses as complimentary each to the other.

 In many ways, the new Eno service is no different than if we had started a new service here at Union Grove.  Instead of launching a new 5:30 pm Sunday service at Union Grove, we are doing so on the Eno campus.

 

My very best response to “why” is that we really feel this is a “God thing.” We have been praying and seeking God’s vision and leading, feeling that there was something more on the horizon.

 

2. What about the liabilities of our joining with Eno?

 There is very limited financial liability/risk involved with what we are doing. Eno’s property is in good shape. They have no debt. Their overhead is very low and will be covered by current revenue from the weekly Eno service. We have kept the upfront costs of launching the new service low, doing the publishing and legwork in house.

 

3. How does our joining together benefit Union Grove?

 

Again, first and foremost, following God’s lead is always the path we are called to follow. To do anything less would be turning our backs on who God is calling us to be. We do believe God is calling us to this opportunity to be in ministry and mission

In January of 2011, at our annual retreat, and after much prayer and discussion, our Church Council voted to move forward with the hiring of a second full-time clergy person. We sensed in a powerful way that God was moving us to be more fully present in our community, especially with our children and youth.

 We knew also that sustaining this new position would require a couple of things. First some substantial financial support from somewhere else. We simply did not have the financial means to do this by ourselves. And so we went looking, telling our story, seeking opportunities, inviting our conference and others to help us in this undertaking.

 We have been blessed to receive two substantial assistance grants. Our conference approved a multi-year Equitable Salary grant to help us grow into this new position. We were also able to get a Duke Endowment Rural Church Division grant to help with our programming for children and youth.

 Now we have to do our part, step up to the plate and be intentional about finding those places where God is opening doors for growth in our mission and ministry. How is God calling us to grow to make this second full-time position financially sustainable in the long run?

 

That is the prayer that we have been praying…

 

A general rule of thumb used to judge sustainable staffing levels at churches is that of worship attendance. There is, as one would assume, a direct correlation between the average number of folks in worship and the financial health of a congregation.

 

Generally church planners use 100 persons in average attendance per full-time staff member as good number for sustainability. So, if we understand that we are called to have two full-time clergy staff positions here at Union Grove, we need to find a way to expand our average weekly attendance to at least 200. How do we do that?

We are working hard, as we always have, to make worship at Union Grove faithful and engaging. We pray that we will continue see growth in the number of persons who share in worship on this campus with us each week. The problem is, given our current rate of growth, it will take us at least five year or six years for us to reach the number in worship that we need in the next two to three years to make our staffing sustainable. How do we bridge that gap?

Eno seems to be at least part of God’s answer to that question for us. A new service at Eno, surrounded by the growing West Hillsborough neighborhood, has substantial potential to help us grow in ministry and mission. It also offers an opportunity for us to offer a worship experience that is different so that we might reach out to some of our current members who are either not available on Sunday mornings or who would prefer a bit different style in worship.