Planting Seeds at the End of the Road
A church closes… with hope for the future!
In May of 2022, the Court Street United Methodist Church joyously celebrated 202 years of faithful service in the heart of Fulton, Missouri. (Covid postponed the 2020 bicentennial.) About 125 people attended the festivities that included special music, a dinner, tours, and fellowship. “It was a glorious day,” recalls Diane Burre Ludwig, a member of the church board. “We did not know we would be closing at all.”
But there were clouds on the horizon. Membership had been in decline for several years, and the leaders had sought help, attended workshops, and conducted membership drives. Nothing seemed to move the needle, and then Covid hit. Some members moved away or left for other reasons. Giving decreased, more jobs had to be done by fewer people, and most members were ‘seasoned’ citizens.
“The ticking time bomb was a 64-year old heating/cooling system,” states Ludwig. It was expensive to run, needed annual repair, and was going to cost a quarter million dollars to replace. “We knew we were entering a time of prayerful discernment,” recalls Rev. Rebecca Peak.
In March of 2023, the board and congregation discerned that they would close the church. Their mantra became “Close with Dignity and Leave a Legacy.” The church leaders did not want to just fade away. Rather, they wanted to be intentional with their remaining assets – to make a positive impact today and to plant seeds for the future.
Their vision for the future included the Missouri United Methodist Foundation.
The first action involved several named memorial scholarship funds administered by the church. While these funds had long been invested at the Foundation, the church now turned the full ownership and administration of the funds over to the Foundation.
“It was only natural for [the church] to partner with the Foundation,” says Rev. Peak. “There was a developed relationship of trust. We could rest easy knowing that the donors’ wishes would continue to be honored.”
The Foundation will maintain both the memory of the names of families and the Court Street UMC. “This was such a difficult, yet bold and generous act by the congregation,” empathizes David Atkins, the Foundation president. “These funds will carry on benefiting new generations – and these scholarships were awarded in 2023 without missing a beat.”
Second, the church wanted to make direct gifts within the Fulton community. Practical items that could be used by other organizations – tables, chairs, kitchen items, office items, nursery and Sunday school items, Christmas decorations, altar pieces – all found new homes.
One of the harder decisions was what to do with a large church benevolent fund – also maintained at the Foundation. The fund was specifically created by the gifts of church members over the years to help those in need in Fulton. The congregation decided to make several significant gifts for immediate use to 24 other charitable social service organizations in Fulton.
With the remainder of the fund, the congregation decided to take a longer view. As Ludwig explains, “We knew of plans by the Conference to someday have a new Methodist church in Fulton to join the work of St. James UMC here.” They wanted to “pay it forward” to that new church.
“Our final decision was to ask the Foundation to help us set up a special fund for the new church,” says Ludwig. “We chose the amount of $50,000.” They also set aside an additional $10,000 as a direct gift to the Foundation to be applied to an area of greatest need. Ludwig was confident in the Foundation, “We have worked with them in the past and know these plans and wishes will be honored.”
Hymn of Promise
By Natalie Sleeth (excerpt)
In our end is our beginning;
in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing;
in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection;
at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
“The Hymn of Promise brought us so much comfort and hope” recalls Rev. Peak. There remains ‘great hope around promises of a new church start’ in Fulton in the future, and our resurrection hope in what God will continue to do in Fulton is rooted in the courage of so many generations of Methodists in this place… trusting not only in God’s provision but more so in the reality that God is always doing a new thing even if we cannot perceive it.”