BUILDING ON THE PROMISES By Doug Cruger On a snowy Sunday morning last February - a day when most churches in Maine were closed due to weather - more than sixty of us gathered during the adult Sunday School hour to recall our journey of the last five years and to build on the promises that brought us together as a new congregation. We are Williston-Immanuel United Church in Portland, Maine, and this is our story. Our roots in Portland run very deep but we are only five years old. Five years ago, after years of declining revenue and the overpowering burden of an historic but rapidly aging building, Williston-West Church UCC in Portland, Maine, faced up to a painful fact. Pastor Gina and the church Leadership laid it out. We are a congregation in discernment at this moment in history. We have one year to try to figure out what to do. In another part of Portland's West End, Immanuel Baptist Church, was also facing some hard facts. The masonry from our tower has fallen into the street. We are facing a $34,000 deficit. The good news: the deficit is less than we faced last year. By the end of 2009, a "year of discernment" at Williston-West UCC was drawing to a close. We agree on our Core Values: 1. Being Open and Affirming and "come as you are." 2. Have a strong pastor who leads us and addresses social issues. 3. Have a strong Christian Ed program. 4. Have a strong Music Program that mixes styles/songs. Then comes 2010 and a new reality for Williston-West UCC. We vote to immediately reduce spending by 10%. Even so, this is not sustainable. Over at Immanuel Baptist, the congregation decides to make 2010 a Year of Celebration of Soul Liberty in Portland, Maine. (One of the congregations that later became Immanuel Baptist was founded in 1810.) January 2010 at Williston-West UCC. The moderator, Roxanna, speaks: Tonight discussions and voting will take place in regard to the future of this spiritual institution...it is important tonight that we speak to one another with respect, and love, and truth. We approve a proposal to explore merger/federation talks with 5 Portland congregations - three UCC churches, a UUA congregation, and with Immanuel Baptist. On the first Sunday in February, the pastor of Williston-West UCC announces her resignation, effective immediately. 1
April 2010: Conversations between Williston-West UCC and three Portland UCC churches and a UUA church about merger/federation take place. All are friendly. None excite. May 24, 2010: The Merger/Partnership Committee then sits down with a small group from Immanuel Baptist Church. The conversation begins. There is a close match here. Immanuel Baptist wants mutuality. This feels different - and good. Their members see how we could strengthen one another and create a new community. And the word back from Immanuel Baptist: Clearly, we are like minded people. We get positive vibes. We see possibilities. The Merger/Partnership Committee reports back to Williston-West UCC: Let us move forward with Immanuel Baptist, step by step. June 2010 at Immanuel Baptist: We have received a proposal from Williston-West UCC to move forward together. Over the summer we will "learn to dance with each other." Let the dating begin! Summer 2010: The "Summer Blend." Three Sunday mornings at Williston-West, three at Immanuel Baptist, plus one midweek summer gathering. It s called getting acquainted. It feels good. What is it that our two congregations are recognizing in one another at this "getting to know you" stage that seems hopeful? For one thing, both congregations are pioneers in their respective denominations in welcoming and affirming same sex couples and singles into the full life of the congregation. (Williston-West was one of the first Open and Affirming congregations in Maine. Immanuel Baptist was the only Welcoming & Affirming congregation in Maine.) For another, both congregations have strong traditions of social justice that stretches back for more than a century, both in Portland, Maine, and in the wider world. Then there are the demographics. While the Immanuel Baptist congregation is, shall we say, "seasoned," Williston-West Church contains many younger families, lots of children, and several families with same-sex parents. By September 2010, a plan begins to emerge. From Williston-West UCC: We will Worship with Immanuel Baptist for the next program year. We will suspend all church activity in our building. We will call Deborah Davis-Johnson - Immanuel's pastor - as our pastor, too, through the next step in our discernment. And over at Immanuel Baptist: We will pray for Williston-West UCC in their season of discernment. We will merge our program committees for the next year with theirs. We will place the Baptismal Font from Williston-West UCC at the foot of our pulpit. We will add Williston-West UCC's communion-ware (the pitcher and cup) to ours. We will place their Grand Piano beside ours in the sanctuary. We will covenant with Williston-West UCC through June 2011, 2
and we will work to understand what God has in mind for us next. October 2010, Pastor Deborah Davis-Johnson observes: God is multiplying our gifts and the coffee pot is empty by noon! God is doing A New Thing, and we are called to pay attention. November 2010: Let there be Truth in Advertising. From now on, the sign on outside our door will read: Williston-West UCC and Immanuel Baptist Meet Together Here every Sunday Morning at 10:30 for Worship. And Our newsletter will now have a new name: "Newsletter for an Emerging Faith Community." February 2011: Pastor Deborah observes: God is making a New Covenant with us. None of us yet knows what it will include....but I know, we are growing in many places all at once. As we began to be more comfortable with one another, and our dating begins to get serious, thorny issues begin to surface. I thought all Baptist's were Fundamentalists. Can we have both infant baptism AND baptism by immersion? Can even young children learn to partake of communion? Are we strong enough to support both American Baptist Mission and UCC Mission? What will become of the Williston-West UCC building on Thomas Street? Can we be both American Baptist and UCC? How? Do new members have to choose one denomination or the other? And the biggies, Whose hymnal will we use? What will we call ourselves? April 2011: After much prayer, our emerging faith community is presented with the draft of a Covenant that might define our corporate life for the next 12 months. We vote unanimously to approve it. June 19, 2011: Decision Day Before morning worship, we gather as two congregations in front of the church, but on opposite ends of the block. As we process toward one another and the front door of our church, we pause for prayers and a blessing. Then, we enter the church as one new congregation. After morning worship, the members of Williston-West UCC gather in the sanctuary. We vote unanimously to merge with Immanuel Baptist Church, And, the hard part: we vote to disband Williston-West UCC. Down the hall, members of Immanuel Baptist Church gather in the Chapel. We vote unanimously to merge with Williston-West UCC, And, the other hard part: we vote to disband Immanuel Baptist Church. We then assemble in the Chapel and vote to formally merge not federate our congregations. 3
It's time to name the church. It is now our privilege - one most of us have never-ever had - To name an exciting new ministry, in this wonderful city, in this significant time. Now, think your best thoughts, Seek for a guiding light, And then mark your ballots which the tellers have distributed to you. The vote is taken. The ballots are counted. The result is announced. From this day forward we will be WILLISTON-IMMANUEL UNITED CHURCH. During the summer and fall of 2011, the work of dissolving two historic congregations - one American Baptist and one United Church of Christ - begins, together with the work of incorporating our new church. The Williston-West building on Thomas Street (home to Williston Church since 1878) is put up for sale. (Remarkably, the building sells in six months. The new owner pays cash.) October 30, 2011: Recognition Day Today we gather with clergy and churches of both the American Baptist Churches of Maine and the Cumberland Association of the United Church of Christ to install Reverend Deborah Davis- Johnson (pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church since September 1999) as the pastor and teacher also of Williston-West Church UCC, and to recognize her credentials within the framework of the United Church of Christ. Two former moderators of our two former churches respond in tandem: When Williston-West UCC came a-courting, we at Immanuel Baptist were honored, and soon smitten. We pondered and prayed. It was clear that we were "in like" with the folks at Williston-West. To be honest, one of the only problems in the eyes of several of our members at Williston-West UCC, was that word... BAPTIST! It quickly got serious, and in June of this year we said to one another, "I do." What God is joining together..." This journey continues to be a blessing to us all. November 2011 The bronze plate that reads "Immanuel Baptist Church" is removed from the cornerstone to which it has been anchored for 83 years. It no longer identifies us. January 8, 2012: Saying Goodbye to Williston-West. Mark and his young son Max ring the old steeple bell for the very last time. Saying goodbye to this historic old building with all its history and architectural charm will be hard, but today we share memories, and we give thanks. At the end of the service Sally blows out the altar candles and takes the memorial altar cross out to her car. The lights in the sanctuary are turned out for the last time. 4
January 15, 2012 The old Williston-West memorial altar cross now rests above the Communion Table in the new Williston-Immanuel United Church. June 10, 2012: Our First Annual Meeting This is an historic day for us, as we officially become a new church: two Baptistries, two Sanctuary Pianos, two hymnals at least for the time being, two strong, Ecumenical Traditions, merged assets that make us stronger, a new name, and renewed passion for worshipping, loving and serving God, who, in the words of our pastor, accepts each of us, and all of us as we are, and calls us to new life. Each of us is gifted by God, And we are mixing these gifts here each week, To create and recreate with God in constantly changing ways. June 16, 2012: Southern Maine Pride Parade Forty of our number - kids and adults, Jacob and his grandmother riding in a shiny, red convertible - parade down Congress Street, behind our new church banner, greeted by thousands lining the streets of downtown Portland. We are now Williston-Immanuel United Church, An Open and Affirming Faith Community in the heart of Portland, Maine. And day by day, we are building on the promises that brought us together, and building on the promises of God. 5