Investment in Hope: Our Fall Stewardship Focus

"Investment in Hope" is the theme of our fall focus on stewardship as we prayerfully consider how we might support the ministries of our church in the coming year.  Throughout the month we have been sharing stories, ideas, and dreams for our church through moments in worship, sermons, and town hall meetings.  Even as we acknowledge the trying economic times in which we live, we also look forward with hope and excitement for all the possibilities the new year may bring for Union Avenue Christian Church and our witness to inner city St. Louis. Below you will find a series of brief "snapshots" of some of the ways our ministry teams plan to invest in hope in 2011:

WORSHIP
The worship team is anticipating keeping program and expenses quite similar to last year while focusing on coordinating the various elements of our  worship services; developing creative approaches for worship on special days and seasons;  seeking new ways to make worship both an spiritual and educational experience; continuing to work on making our worship accessible and welcoming to visitors; partnering with Christian education and AGUA to integrate more forms of art into our worship times including purchasing/creating banners to help celebrate the colors and symbols of our Christian seasons.

PLANT and PROPERTY
The Plant and Property team has major expenses in keeping utilities on and insurance paid.  Additionally, they maintain the building, trying to keep it clean and usable for the myriad of groups using it.  In 2011,their hope is to do a better job of cleaning, fixing refrigerators, efficiently maintaining the boiler, updating air conditioning units, adapting the microphone system, fixing gutters, caring for the lawn and gardens.  This budget will also add the contract maintenance staff person in 2011. The desire is to have anyone entering the building to know that it is because of our love for God’s world that we have remained in and care tenderly for this 100+ year old building.  Our building is a major portion of outreach ministry -- from all the out-of-town volunteers who are housed in our Urban Mission Inn, to the many outside groups that use our facility including the Union Avenue Opera, the HIV/AIDS Planning Council, various neighborhood betterment groups, and the West End Players Guild.

EVANGELISM
The Evangelism team (E-team) will be creating new ways to communicate our story of faith through the internet.  One of the first possibilities being considered is an Advent devotional resource that can be accessed through the internet as an online "ezine."  This team will also help to organize monthly "stories of faith" in worship, inviting people to speak their story of faith and share how they live that story through the ministry of Union Avenue.  Realizing that we need to better articulate our own faith stories, the team will consider a small group centered on story-telling as a means to be in conversation with others (as well as a way to better articulate our own beliefs).  The E-team will also be looking for ways to be visible in various neighborhood festivals so Union Avenue can be seen throughout the St. Louis area.  Evangelism's ultimate goal is to help us reach out to others who may be seeking a church home like Union Avenue where they will find a welcoming place to live out their own faith journey.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
In 2011, the Education Team will continue to develop our small group ministry for youth and adults as well as increase our focus on developing more study and fellowship opportunities for families with young children.  This may include quarterly Sunday morning family activities during our Christian education hour as well as intergenerational activities for the whole church. They plan to once again invite a scholar from Eden Theological Seminary to host a lecture series and to join with our friends from Pilgrim UCC and Westminster Presbyterian for a series of studies during Lent. Christian Education will cooperate with worship as we help to develop a new Worship Arts Group that will explore ways to incorporate more art into our worship experiences. They will also team with the Outreach in producing a justice and mission curriculum for our Urban Mission Inn guests.

ARTS MINISTRY
Our arts ministry serves to help integrate the arts and the spiritual practice of creativity into all facets of our life together at Union Avenue.  In the new year, our arts group will help Christian Education host more small groups centered around art and art-making. They will work with Worship to support the new Worship Arts Group as they find more ways to incorporate the arts into our Sunday services.  They will work with the Outreach Team to sponsor arts activities for youth at Dignity House and support the Ivory Perry Park Concert series.  They will work with Property to continue to maintain our gallery as a space where St. Louis artists, including children and youth of our neighborhood, can showcase the gifts.  Additionally, the arts group plans to offer new hands-on art workshops, outings to arts events, and to organize theatrical activities for children and adults.

OUTREACH and SERVICE
The Outreach Team plans to focus our impact more locally than ever before in 2011 through continued support and growth of The Urban Mission Inn and with a particular focus on youth of the inner city.  This vision of greater local impact will be lived out through support and partnership with organizations in our neighborhood like Covenant House and Dignity House which are reaching out to the needs of homeless and challenged teens, providing them with the support to become successful and independent young adults. They will continue to expand our fair trade ministry this year, adding new fair trade products to our Sunday morning offering and expanding the effort to provide ongoing education to our congregation on the importance of fair trade. Outreach also plans to take a greater role in maintaining our community garden.

We expect our our commitments to global and regional and local impact to continue through support of the Disciples General ministries and Area ministry and Union Communion Ministries (UCM).  However, we know that the impact of the economic downturn on the source of our outreach funds will likely force us to diminish those offerings this year.  The level of those cuts will only be able to be determined when the budget has been developed by the board but we hope will be offset by an increase of hands-on people-to-people mission efforts in the new year.