Let’s Do This!

It is so much fun to be a part of something way bigger than yourself.  Especially something that is part of God’s bigger plans.  I was reminded recently of a wonderful summer opportunity one of my best friends and I were a part of several summers ago.  We were both living back at home and decided to audition for the summer community theatre production of Brigadoon.  It ended up being so much fun.  We both had dance and singing experience but were not star performers by any means.  We got cast in the chorus and on the dance team and had a blast.  We were just a small part of a

multifaceted performance.  We each contributed our part to the whole performance.  Without each of our contributions, it would have been incomplete.  Even the leading roles could not pull off telling the whole story without each of us doing our part along the way.  And when we closed the final performance, my friend and I looked at each and felt like we had been a part of something special, and something important.

This example is not so much about furthering God’s Kingdom, but it is about being a part of something bigger than yourself.  It is about recognizing it feels good to take on something big and meaningful and pull it off.  Let it be focused on furthering God’s Kingdom and it just multiplies the potential joy.

Centenary members and friends, we find ourselves in a position to grasp an opportunity for us all to be a part of something way bigger than any one of us individually.  We have the opportunity to impact the life story of our church, the ministries that take place within and do something hugely significant.  We have the chance to support and implement some much needed renovations to our facilities that can impact multi-generations of Centenarians for centuries to come.  These renovations have been talked about (some of them) for over 20 years!  Let’s stop talking about them and bring them to life!  Now is the time.

Our vision right now is to tackle three projects.

1. Renovate 3 floors of our 1960’s Building for both updated Children’s Ministry space as well as expanded adult classroom space and better connection to our 1930’s building.
2. Renovate our 4th Floor 1930’s Building that houses our Youth Ministry.
3. Create a new lobby and 5th Street entrance into our church facility with a possible vehicular drop off and a much needed new elevator.

Now some folks question whether now is the time for Centenary to tackle such a big vision.  But the truth is, Centenary has had or found reasons for many years to postpone doing some of these much needed renovations.  Many of these spaces are original construction and are limitations and inhibitors to two strong ministries of our churches (youth and children).  Some concerns have been raised about our recalibrating our budget last year and wonder if we can do this financially.  But friends, our church is capable of doing this financially, if we see the larger vision, look at this as an awesome investment in our future, and desire to be part of something that is bigger and more meaningful than anything we could do individually.

Our Capital Campaign Planning Committee want to have church wide conversations to explore the projects we are proposing and answer questions and hear ideas from each one of you.  We want to share with you why church leadership thinks now is the time to do something big and beautiful in and through Centenary United Methodist Church.

Please accept an invitation to attend a small group conversation that will be offered coming up soon in August and into September.  Listen up for tour options so you can see some of these spaces for yourselves and how badly they need our attention.  Hold our church and its leadership in your prayers as we faithfully respond to God’s direction to invest in the future life of this church and improve the existing facilities for our own members now.

Centenary, we are a big and beautiful church filled with wonderful people who love God

and work hard to love one another.  As we try to live into our vision statement (see the caption) this renovation project provides us the opportunity to increase our vibrancy visually within our building; to enhance the ways we build Christian Community – especially among our children and youth ministries; it gives us ways to love our neighbor better by using our facilities in new and creative ways.  It helps us live into our Core Values of Intentional Hospitality and Engaging Discipleship.  And so much more.  But only if we as a church family come together and say right now, this is important for the life of this church, for the ability of our church to further God’s Kingdom, and for the future generations that will benefit from the work we do right now.  Only if you and I say Yes!  We want to be a part of that.  Of something bigger than we are and even bigger than what we may need personally.

Let’s do this Centenary!  Join us for conversation, idea sharing, and aligning the design plans with our financial abilities.  Let us joyfully say yes to God’s great plans for our church.

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth