As promised, we wanted to share the results of our two big church meetings that happened earlier this month, and some of the next steps.
Church Conference, October 21. About 100 of us gathered in the sanctuary and on Zoom that evening to vote on the property matters about which you’ve heard so much in recent weeks. After a couple of proposed changes that failed to pass, the original motion did pass with 78 out of the 98 votes cast, so that the following was approved:
removal of Wesley Place and the marketing of the Western Properties, and to move forward with a capital campaign and planning toward the Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects.
While some additional approvals still need to be secured from United Methodist bodies, passage of this motion places initial steps toward some of those Phase and Phase 2 projects on our immediate agenda:
Removal of Wesley Place and new drive to Lincoln Way: This project includes a number of details: clearing the house of furniture and other items; identifying any interest in someone moving the house or, otherwise, a demolition company; solidifying plans for relocating the preschool’s outdoor learning center to its new location south of the garage; and developing plans for regrading the lot, including the new access drive.
Adding an accessible restroom for Wesley Place: The concept and location are clear, but the actual design, preparation, and execution of this plan will require some specific planning and decision-making.
Planning toward a capital campaign. A small group has already begun work toward a capital campaign that will happen in early 2026. We’re delaying our annual stewardship campaign for 2026 giving to happen at the same time (stay tuned for more details we’ll communicate soon on this subject).
Marketing the Western Properties. As we hope is clear to everyone at this point, the approval to market the Western Properties does not mean we are selling them; that can’t happen without further steps and attention to future needs that include parking, ministry space, and finances. This approval does mean we’ll need to identify and work with a commercial realtor who would assist us in the process of listing the property and exploring potential offers or possibilities over the coming months or years.
**For each of these projects, we’re hoping to identify a small team that would take the lead in carrying out these steps. If you’re interested in joining in, please be in touch with Pastor Lee, Sherry Hoyer, or Max Morris, or simply contact the church office and Janelle will pass along the message.**
In addition to the projects mentioned above, the other projects approved last week include planning toward replacing our south parking lot, creating a new south entrance (and associated interior renovations), and improving our signage, inside and outside the building. These items are not as immediate as they’ll depend on funding expected to be raised through the capital campaign. We’ll keep you informed as all of this develops.
Charge Conference, October 19. In addition to the Special Called Church Conference that happened on the 21st in our building, every year we have a regular Charge Conference at which we do some of the annual business of the church. In recent years, this has been done with a cluster of churches, so we were at Ames First UMC for this meeting on Sunday, October 19 along with a half dozen other churches.
The business of charge conference always includes reports including mission and ministry, trustees, and historian, and the approval of pastoral compensation for the coming calendar year. We also set goals for the coming year. Ours for 2026 are, in brief:
- Work diligently toward implementing strategic decisions about our purpose, future, and direction as a church. (Namely, the projects identified above in the discussion of our Oct. 21 Church Conference.)
- Reimagine and restructure leadership, with the hope of reducing the time and energy invested in administration and increasing support and leadership for our ministries.
- Build on the Conversation Circles we held in 2025 to continue identifying our priorities and imagination for our ongoing impact as a congregation.
- Continue to improve our internal and external communications.
In addition to setting goals, our annual membership report included, for the first time in several years, a number of names of members for whom we no longer have contact information. Under our United Methodist process, those persons remain members until they ask to be removed or until we’ve had a “first reading” and “second reading” of names at annual charge conferences. We did the “first reading” of more than 400 names at this charge conference. The purpose of this process is for those who attend, and others who might have connections with those individuals, to have time to encourage persons on that list to express their willingness to continue, and to share updated contact information.
The entire charge conference packet is on request available through the church office.
