wfn.org | Kansas congregation, mission agency to share church building

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 3, 1998    Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
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By Kathy Kruger Noble*

WICHITA, Kan. (UMNS)- A covenant agreement between a United Methodist
congregation and a mission agency in Kansas allows for sharing of church
facilities to enhance the lives of both entities.

Hyde Park United Methodist Church and United Methodist Urban Ministry
(UMUM), both of Wichita,  have entered a covenant agreement,  effective
July 1. The agreement  gives the congregation  the assurance it can
continue to worship in a familiar setting. The agency gains additional
facilities from which to be in ministry. 

UMUM is an operation of the Kansas West Annual (regional) Conference
which connects local churches in a variety of collaborative efforts.
Approved by the denomination to receive voluntary gifts through the
Advance program, UMUM is one of the channels through which the church
connects to the needs of the world.

On May 17, the active participants of the 160-member congregation voted
36-7 to deed its church buildings, land and parking lot to UMUM.  In
return, the agency will provide pastors for worship services each
Sunday, pastoral care to members, and maintenance of the building which
will be known as the Hyde Park United Methodist Family Center.  The
center will  provide services to people living in the  neighborhood.

Applauding the agreement, the Rev. Chuck Winkler, Wichita District
superintendent, said, "The arrangement gives (Hyde Park members) some
more time to exist as a congregation and to feel good about who they
have been and who they are as a missional church."

"It is to their credit," Winkler continued, "that they are willing to
give their real property to a mission agency of the church that
hopefully can enhance ministry to the people of that community and to
Wichita."

The future of Hyde Park church has been in question for more than a
decade. The downtown neighborhood where the church is located  has
changed from residential to commercial and light industrial. Two other
United Methodist congregations (Calvary and Asbury) relocated earlier as
the number of people living in the area steadily decreased. 

Pointing to the aging of the church members, the Rev. Chuck Hadley,
co-pastor at Hyde Park, said he is often the youngest person at worship.
Expressing excitement about he possibilities for future ministries in
neighborhood, he said his first vision for a new direction at Hyde Park
came when the church cooperated with the Kellogg School Neighborhood
Association to sponsor a "Klothes Kloset" for needy families.

Exactly what form the ministry will take is yet to be determined,
according to  the Rev. Garry Winget, executive minister of  UMUM.  One
possibility, he said, is child care. He will meet with representatives
of the neighborhood association soon to begin discussing ministry
possibilities. 

The mission agency does not plan to relocate any of its ministries to
the Hyde Park location. The church  will house new ministries and part
of the building may be used as office space for other non-profit
agencies.

Winget and the Rev. Joe Cobb, coordinator of volunteers for UMUM, will
be among those leading worship at Hyde Park beginning July 5.

The agreement states that Sunday School classes and  fellowship groups
will continue to use the space they presently occupy for as long as they
wish to meet. A room is also to be designated for the church archives.
Some of the financial assets will be used to print a final edition of
the church's history.

For many years, Hyde Park was recognized as one of the leading
congregations in the former Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) Church.
The church was the site for many of that denomination's annual
conference sessions. The EUB Church merged with the Methodist Church in
1968 to become the United Methodist Church.

Part of the UMUM staff's pastoral ministry, Winget explains, will be
"helping Hyde Park to close, to ease people into another faith
community."

The covenant agreement says that when the membership declines to 40, the
district superintendent will follow the disciplinary provision for
transferring the remaining members to other local churches.  At that
point it is believed that the remaining members will be in nursing homes
or homebound.  Hyde Park is expected to continue as a worship center for
no more than three years.

According to the agreement, UMUM will receive the church operating
account and the remodeling fund to pay church bills and for repairs to
the building.

Five organizations will each receive 20 percent of the remaining funds:
UMUM's Hyde Park Family Center; Horizon United Methodist Center in
Arkansas City,  Kan.; McCurdy Mission in Espanola, N.M.; Red Bird
Mission in Beverly, Ky.; and  United Methodist Youthville in Newton,
Kan.

# # #
*Noble is associate director for communications for the Kansas West
Conference and editor of  Crossfire, the newspaper of the conference.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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