This letter
is being sent to the membership of the Gettysburg United Methodist Church.
As you know, our church voted
several months ago to sell the Christian education building and build an
addition to the church. This addition
will have an indoor ramp to the sanctuary, a fellowship hall on the ground
floor, a new kitchen, offices for the pastor and the parish secretary, and
handicapped-accessible restrooms. The
plan we voted on at that time was to raise the money we needed for the project
before we started building.
Since that time, we have been
engaged in fundraising. The total amount
of money we need for this project is $740,000.
Of that total, $140,000 will come from the sale of the building, leaving
$600,000 we need to raise. At this
point, we have raised approximately $360,000.
That’s an impressive total to raise in that amount of time, but it still
leaves us approximately $240,000 short of the total amount needed.
So, the question is, what do we do
now? Do we continue to follow the
original plan, and continue to raise money, knowing that building costs will
almost certainly go up if we wait? Or,
do we change our original plan?
The church fundraising committee
and the church building committee have both recommended that we change our
original plan. What they propose is that
the church commit to begin building this spring. The money raised so far would be used to pay
for the initial phase of the project.
While this initial phase is being built, money would continue to be
raised to pay for the rest of the project.
If all goes well, by the time more
money is needed, that money will have been raised. However, these committees recognize that
there is no guarantee that this will happen.
So, the plan would also allow for the church to borrow the remainder of
the money if necessary. No one knows, of
course, how much money will need to be borrowed at this time. We do know that it will be less than $240,000. How much less will depend on how much money
is raised between now and then.
If money is borrowed, the church
would continue to raise funds to pay the money back. People would be asked to make annual pledges
(or semi-annually, or monthly, or whatever time period people want to do) to
pay back the money. There would continue
to be fundraisers as well.
These committees recognize that
this plan is a significant change from the original plan that was voted
on. Therefore, the church is going to do
the following:
1) There will be a congregational meeting held
Sunday, March 30 at 2:00. We encourage
everyone to come to the meeting. You may
ask questions, you may give comments, and you may make suggestions. If you cannot be at the meeting, please talk
to someone on the fundraising committee or the building committee, or both and
ask those questions and make those comments and suggestions before the
meeting. We want everyone to have the
opportunity to be heard.
2) There will be a special Charge Conference
held Sunday, April 6, after church. Our
District Superintendent, Randy Cross, will be in attendance. At that time we will hold a vote on the
revised plan proposed by the fundraising committee and the building committee.
Please note
that in order to vote, you must be a member of the Gettysburg United Methodist
Church and you must be present at the Charge Conference. This is not the local church's rule, it is a
rule of the worldwide United Methodist Church and is set forth in our Book of
Discipline. We do not have the power to
change this rule.
Please pray about this and think
about it carefully. If you have
questions, or if you have opinions, please come to the March 30 meeting. Also, we encourage you to talk to members of the
fundraising committee, to members of the building committee, or to Pastor Jeff
at any time. The names of the members of those committees are listed below.
We do not want anyone to feel that
they did not get a chance to be heard.
We want everyone to feel they had a chance both to be fully informed and
to voice their opinion. That way, once a
decision is made, we can move forward together to continue to serve God in this
community and beyond.
The Gettysburg UMC Fundraising Committee The Gettysburg UMC Building Committee
Mark Schmidt Kevin
Logan
Shar Eliason Jeannee
Anderson
Bill Fischer Kevin
Geditz
Kevin Kilian Randy
Kemink
Norm Kostboth Ronnie
Larson
Gail Larson Vaughn
Larson
Tim Luken Bill
Wuttke
Jan Quiett
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