Information Update about St Mark's Future

Following several Town Hall Conversations, here is where we currently stand:

1) An overwhelming majority are very interested in our doing whatever we need to do to ensure that St Marks continues to grow and progress at a healthy rate of growth. There is particular interest in ensuring that we have sufficient facilities for young families, children and teens.

2) An overwhelming majority support our acquisition of additional property for future growth.

3) A significant number of persons will support the acquisition of additional property by giving generously and sacrificially. We have by no means, however, reached the level of financial support for the acquisition that it is clear that we would be able to purchase it. This requires further study.

4) There is considerable anxiety about what would happen to our present building. We have not yet successfully communicated the following:

First, the proposal to acquire additional property is about expanding our property, not replacement of our property. Our cemetery is permanent and can neither be sold nor moved. So we would continue to hold our present church property.

Second, while the acquisition of additional property has been proposed, there has not yet been a proposal for the future of our present church building. We do know that we have serious structural problems, especially the foundation. Perhaps a proposal for the future might include moving the present building temporarily while we excavate and recreate a new foundation. Perhaps it might include restoring the present building to its original, historic condition. Some people would like to see the building remain where it is, to service the cemetery, for weddings, and to function as a chapel for other special services. Some would like our traditional services to continue in our current location while our growing alternative service and educational programs meet down the road. Others would like our building to be moved and integrated into the new property in order to help the parish community retain its unity. Others have no opinion. But the crucial point to remember is that the proposal to acquire new property does not entail a proposed plan for the current building. We do not have to make any decisions about the current building for years to
come.

Third, no matter what we should decide to do in the future about our current building (create a new foundation? restore it? move it?), we will need to continue to use the building just as it is many years to come. It is not unusual for a growing congregation to acquire land for future growth, and then to hold that land for 20 years while it continues growing in its current location (if possible), and while it builds up its funds for future construction.

Fourth, even if we were to raise enough funds to put a new fellowship hall and additional program space on the new property, we would absolutely need to continue using our current building for worship for years to come.

Fifth, even if, years from now, we offered an alternative worship service on Sunday mornings in a new fellowship hall on our new property, we could continue to offer traditional worship on Sunday mornings in our current building for as long as we wished to do so.

The imperative issue to remember is that adding additional space for program and growth does not require anyone to lose or give up their current worship space. How we choose to configure both our properties in the future will depend on what we all choose to do for the good of all.

5) No matter what we decide about the acquisition of land for the future, this proposal does not address ANY of our current space problems. While our two traditional worship services have plenty of space for new members, we cannot offer opportunites for adult education on Sunday morning. We cannot offer a nursery. We are terribly overcrowded in our Sunday School and youth ministries. We experience conflicting needs for our fellowship hall. Our fellowship hall is too small for many of our events during the year. We have stopped some of our programs and events of the past because we no longer have space for them. The acquisition of land for the future addresses none of our current needs, nor our anticipated needs for the coming year. We need a two-pronged approach: Long term AND short term. For the past six years we have worked on short term approaches only by annexing the rectory for program space, by expanding our Sunday morning schedule, and by restructuring our old space. But we have run out of options for the short term, and we have no plan for the long term.


Slideshow about St Marks History of Growth

A slideshow containing much of the information about our growth and needs discussed in our Town Hall Conversations can be viewed here.

What About Spinning Off a New Congregation?

At least as early as 2002, some St Marks members said they preferred St Marks to launch a new mission (spin off a daughter congregation) as an alternative to long term growth. Because this idea continued to surface during our recent Town Hall Conversations, we made available a survey in December to see whether this idea were viable. Here is how St Marks members responded:

• Only two people expressed any interest in working toward this.

• Several more said they might be interested in launching a new mission at some point in the distant future, but only after we had successfully grown St Marks to a stable, "program sized" congregation.

• The overwhelming belief of responders definitely oppose the idea of launching a new mission in the near future.

In light of this clear response, it is obvious that there is insufficient interest to consider a new mission as an alternative to long term growth. This is definitely not an option we will consider further, at least until after we have successfully grown St Marks to the size of a stable, "program-sized" congregation.