MOVING FORWARD IN 2012
A letter from Todd Smith, our Lead Team Chair
Dear Village Community:
As you may know, on Sunday November 6th we held our First Annual Village Community Meeting. The purpose of this meeting was: to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our Community in two short years, to discuss the ongoing vision for the Village; and to welcome people to consider membership at the Village Church.
As you may also know, we had to discuss a new reality for our lives together at the Village. We learned a few weeks ago that our church will not be receiving a $30,000 grant from the United Methodist Church for the calendar year 2012. This is a grant that the Lead Team of the church had planned on when budgeting for next year. It is important to mention that we were not denied this grant because the UMC does not support our vision or does not think that we deserve of financial support, but rather that their budget for 2012 is less than they had anticipated. This forced them to make some difficult decisions when distributing their grant monies. Consequently, this has challenged our Lead Team to reevaluate our budget for 2012 and also make some difficult decisions. It is our goal to be open and honest with you and let you know that we do not have all of the answers or solutions at this time, but that we are working very hard (and prayerfully) to make the decisions that we feel are the best for the future of our Community. We are still 100% committed to following Jesus and changing the world together as a church community!
We are, of course, still committed to our core values of: Authentic community; Balance of prayerful/spiritual life and action in the community; and Compassion for people living in poverty and living on the margins of society. We are still committed to being a regional church….serving the city of Toledo with a vision of having multiple locations so we can maximize our outreach to the people who need our unique ministry (and we know there are many, many people out there who could benefit from our ministry). However, we also are still committed to becoming financially viable and stable….and we have had to come to the realization that our current system, left unchanged, will not lead to us achieving this goal.
After extensive analysis of the church budget (both income and expenses) the Lead Team has arrived at some conclusions. First, in order to reach all of our goals as a community we need to increase income into the church. Over the next two years, the income from our grants will consistently decrease…which means that the income derived from tithes, offerings and donations must increase to compensate for this reality. The best way to accomplish this will be to reach out to more people and we feel that having multiple locations for the Village to worship in will be a huge factor in this process. Second, we have had to make the decision to cut expenses for 2012. Our two biggest expenses are: Pastoral Salary and Facilities Rent/Maintenance. Because Cheri believes in our church and is committed to being our Pastor, she has graciously agreed to take her second temporary salary cut in the past 12 months. We fully believe in Cheri’s value and that she deserves to be paid a fair and full salary, but the reality is that currently the Village Church is only able to afford a “part time Pastor’s” salary. Unfortunately, even with this sacrifice on Cheri’s part, there is not enough money in the budget for us to afford to continue renting and maintaining our current building space at the Village Commons. Since we value people and community, we will choose ministry over bricks and mortar every time. After all, it is the community that makes the Village so special….not the building we meet in. Therefore, the Lead Team is working to develop a plan for us to move from our current site to the Maumee Indoor Theater. We expect to do this by Easter. As resources are available, as soon as possible, we plan to develop another urban site for ministry.
We do not know exactly how this plan is going to look, but we do know that it will be a process and we hope that we can count on your support and understanding during this time of transition. Please know that none of these decisions have been made lightly and that our ultimate goal is to make the Village Church the awesome and thriving Regional Church that we know it can be!
Sincerely,
Todd L. Smith
Lead Team Chair of the Village Church
OUR STORY
The vision emerged for The Village, a movement of people who connect to God, care for one another, and reach outside themselves to make the world a better place. As the vision began to grow in Pastor Cheri's heart and soul, she shared her thoughts with her husband, Kurt Young. When Kurt and Cheri had met in 1996, he would have called himself a Christian but was not actively involved in a church. Together they helped create an alternative coffee house worship experience at Christ Church UM in Findlay Ohio. That coffee house was one of the many experiences that prepared them to plant The Village today.
Moving to Toledo in 1999, Cheri was the turn-around pastor for Central UMC, and they experienced a 150% increase in worship attendance during her tenure. By 2005, God began calling Cheri to move from the relative comfort of this established congregation, and to step out on faith and be a church planter.
After extensive training for Cheri, and evaluation of both her and the plan by church planting experts and denominational officials, The Village Church was approved as an official church plant in 2008. In July 2008, Cheri began work full-time as the planting pastor. The Village Church is a unique partnership of two denominations committed to creating new communities for the 21st century: The United Church of Christ (UCC) and United Methodist Church (UMC). Both denominations have been faithful communities for Christians since the founding years of this country. The movement of Jesus has a long history of building upon tradition, and then taking risks to innovate and reach new people groups. The Village Church is committed to being a new church for a new generation of Jesus' followers.
WHAT IS THE "VILLAGE CHURCH?"
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The Village Church is a missional, progressive, urban church plant. Our starting place is West Toledo, but The Village will spread across NW Ohio as a multi-site movement.
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The name is based on the idea that "It takes a village to raise a child." In a community, or a village, people care for one another; know one another; share intimacy and authenticity; and live more simply.
WHAT ARE THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE VILLAGE?
Jesus: Our life together will be built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ's life and ministry. Jesus came to this earth to proclaim that we are all beloved children of God. He preached justice for the oppressed and life that overcomes death. Jesus is our model for how to live balanced lives of prayer and action in the world.
Prayer: The vision for The Village has been birthed through a process of intentional prayer. Prayerful discernment will guide the development of this ministry.
WHAT ARE THE CORE VALUES?
Authentic relationships and community.
Balance of prayer and action in our lives.
Compassion for persons living in poverty.
IS THE VILLAGE CONNECTED TO OTHER CHURCHES?
The Village Church is a partnership of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the United Methodist Church (UMC). We are grateful for support and resources from: the Northwest Ohio Association of the UCC, the Ohio Conference of the UCC, the Maumee Watershed District of the UMC, the West Ohio Conference of the UMC; and local congregations; Park Congregational UCC, Toledo, Ohio; Church of St. Andrew UMC, Toledo, Ohio; Sylvania UCC, Sylvania, Ohio; Ginghamsburg UMC, Tipp City, OH; and Epicenter DC UMC, Washington DC.
HOW CAN I INVEST IN THE VILLAGE?
Methodist congregations are women, according to the
Rev. Candace Lewis, New Church Start Strategist for Path
1, an initiative led by the General Board of Discipleship.
And, says Lewis—herself former pastor of a church she
started in Florida—women bring unique gifts to the role of
planting new Christian communities of faith across the
church.
The Village, an urban church in Toledo, Ohio, Cheri Holdridge balances work priorities with
those of being a spouse and a mother of two children.
“One of the core values of my church is balance,” says Holdridge, who started The
Village in 2008. “I try to model that in my congregation by planning ‘date nights’ with my
husband and ‘family nights,’ too. I think this is a gift that a working mother can give as a
pastor.”
The Village is housed in central Toledo in a former restaurant. The space, she says, has
more the feel of a coffee house or jazz club than what most people identify as “church.”
The congregation is diverse, with 60 to 70 percent white people and the rest of multiracial
or racial-ethnic ancestry. The Village is also a “reconciling congregation,” meaning the
parish welcomes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and their families.
“You have a woman pastor of a church in an old restaurant in an old shopping plaza in
downtown Toledo,” Holdridge says. “There are many signals here that this is not
business as usual. We don’t have worship in a sanctuary; we have a ‘Village
Commons.’ We don’t use a ‘bulletin,’ we use a ‘program.’”
Holdridge began The Village in answer to a persistent call by God, which she tried at first to ignore. “The first time they asked me to plant
a church, I said no because I didn’t want to work that hard,” she says. “But I got tired of turning around dying congregations.”
Holdridge started her church even though the West Ohio Conference said no the first time she asked for funding and assistance. She
went to United Church of Christ officers and they agreed to help. Equipped with that support, Holdridge was then able to secure funding
and support from the annual conference, so that, today, The Village is a federated UCC/UMC congregation.
—Erik Alsgaard is pastor of St. Ignace (Mich.) UMC.