The following is a summary of a longer article published on UCC. org.
When the Rev. Ray Jordan began offering pulpit supply at First Community Church United Church of Christ, he didn’t know that it would lead to a position as the church’s pastor and a shift in how the Dallas church does ministry. But over time, that’s exactly what happened.
Jordan first preached to the church online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a month of reopening the building in 2021 and resuming in-person worship and meetings, the church’s board realized that the congregation had only enough money to cover about 14 months of the church’s regular expenses.
The church building was expansive, and building maintenance was a significant part of the congregation’s budget. The space that had served its large membership well decades ago had become difficult to maintain for the group of around 30 worshippers that typically gathered on a Sunday morning. After a $30,000 air conditioning repair arose, it “felt like we weren’t being good stewards of God’s money,” Jordan said.
First Community Church made the difficult decision to put the building up for sale while the congregation discerned next steps. They are among several other UCC churches who have become too small to maintain a large building, with each making unique decisions about how to move their congregation forward such as donating their building to a local organization, moving to rented space, or merging with other congregations. Others have developed opportunities for social services or affordable housing on their church properties. And some have faithfully made the decision to close their ministry and redistribute money from the property sale to racial justice work and reparations.
The congregation agreed that it was time to do something different, and Jordan presented a model of a “mission-centered church without walls”: one monthly worship service in person with the remainder of Sundays a virtual “Coffee and Conversation” time. Other gatherings would be mission-oriented and outreach events with local ecumenical partners, with their sister church, and with local nonprofits to assist with and participate in food pantries, meal offerings for the unhoused, local AIDS walks, and other justice advocacy. 2023 was the first full year that the church implemented this model, and Jordan described it as “working like gangbusters.”
“We’re being church in a different kind of way, and I’m hopeful there are other churches out there who are facing similar dilemmas who might be encouraged that just because this model is no longer serving our needs doesn’t mean we have to disband. Sometimes that’s necessary, but there are other ways to be church and other ways to be the hands and feet of Christ in the community,” he said. “This is the most fun I have had in ministry and the most creative, because of the people,” he said. “They said doing things the same way didn’t give the desired result, so let’s do something different.”