New Building Update 4/22/20

Setup for the site continues today. The mobile office has been set up for several days now to provide a place to coordinate construction from. Today we saw the instillation of a new power pole. This one is temporary for the purposes of construction, but it is exciting to see each step as it proceeds.

May the Lord be with you and bless you in your homes during this stay-at-home time, and we hope that these small updates on the project bring a bit of hope. As the workers continue to do the portions of the project that can be done during this time, we pray that God would bless them with health and safety.

New Building Update 4/14/20

The ground is finally dry enough to begin a bit of our site-work!

The project is on the move again!  On 150 you can see our excavators beginning to work on what will become the concrete foundation of the new church.  We’ll continue to keep you posted week by week as new improvements to the site begin.  As we take a look at the physical foundation of the church, it is a good time to remember our spiritual foundation: 

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.  –1 Corinthians 3:10-11—

The stakes are used to mark out various corners and rooms in the new building so that important grading and groundwork can be done.

May all of the work of our church stand on the foundation of Christ which we will celebrate this Easter season!  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son for us.  May everything we do come from thanksgiving and worship of God, and move from that place outward in Christ like love of neighbor.  We ask for your prayers for the workers as the begin the portions of the building project that can be done during this time of social distancing.  We will wait with patience for anything that might need to pause until the concerns about Coronavirus have lessened.  May God be with you in your homes, to keep you safe, to bring you peace, and to bless our community with health.  May God be with our nation through a spirit of unity and peace, through inspired scientific research, compassionate care, and wise leadership. 

If you have not yet joined us for worship our services are all online at www.downsumc.org  We look forward to the day we can gather together again, but until then we are united in the spirit and together in heart.  We’ll keep you updated with the portions of the project that can be worked on.  We have much to be thankful for, and much to look forward to. 

Online Worship Services

The link for the worship service is below, as is a chance for you to download the church bulletin. We put the song lyrics in the bulletin in the hopes that you’d sing along. Thanks so much for joining us for worship this morning. Our church is praying for you and we look forward to the opportunity to gather together again.

  1. March 22, 2020 Worship Service

Building Update 3_5_2020

The church’s Legacy team is hard at work gathering photos from the community, and putting together a picture archive of the history of the church.

As we await dryer weather and the arrival of the electric utility to the worksite, it’s a great time to update you on the fantastic work of our Legacy team.  They have been busy at work gathering pictures from the congregation, histories from local archives, lists of pastors who have served, and much more. 

Legacy is also taking a look at the artwork and paintings in the church, and gathering the theology behind the stained glass window symbols.  All of this is to help us do the best job of telling our story as we move. 

The team is looking at some really exciting possibilities like a timeline-mural, and the design of a welcome desk to help tell our story.  It is a joy to see so many of our congregation diving into the story of our church, and committed to sharing it.  Membership on the Legacy team is still open, and there is a place for you to join. Simply contact the church office at 309-378-2651.

Building Update 2/24/2020

These are the center panels of each of our three beautiful windows. In order from left to right, they show scenes from: Revelation 3:14-22, Psalm 23, and Matthew 26:36-46.

While we continue to wait for better weather, this Sunday we heard an update from the Trustees. The three center panels of the largest stained glass windows of the church will soon be removed (in late-mid March or early April). They are being removed now to give enough time for them to be prepared for display in the new building. It’s quite a process to remove and re-display a stained glass window and takes some time. The exciting part is that we are on schedule to have these beautiful windows on display in the new building on opening day!

Part of the reason for the announcement was an important heads-up to the congregation. If you want pictures of the old sanctuary before the windows are removed, you have about a month to get them.

There’s some great work going on in the background as we await dryer days: The Legacy team is gathering pieces of our history, working with village, county, and denominational historical archives. The Publicity team is hard at work and you’ll see the fruit of their efforts soon. We are beginning to have practices for the additional worship team. The church is at work to prepare for our new location. A large thank you to all of our amazing volunteers! Please continue to be in prayer for a safe project, and for the new home of the Downs United Methodist Church.

Building Update 2_16_20

Sunrise over the worksite on Sunday morning, it was cold, foggy, and beautiful.

All that moisture and weather that is slowing the project down came together on Sunday to make an absolutely beautiful picture: a blank canvas upon which will be written the next chapter of a church that has served in this town since 1833. A place that we pray God can use to bless our families, our neighbors, and our community; a place that will be Holy Ground, where it will be easier to see God-at-work in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

As we wait and as we work to prepare, may we be intentional to invite the Holy Spirit to be in every step. May the Lord bless the work that has been done, the work that we are doing, and the work that is to come.

New Building Update 2/7/20

While we continue to wait for better temps and less water in the ground, our church is quite busy preparing for the move. Our Legacy team is collecting photographs of our history, and looking into the village and county archives to best tell the story of our church (which began in 1833!). Our Publicity team is working on some new signage that you should see around town soon, and our church is praying for the project.

The worksite is still too cold and wet to do foundation and frame, but some great things have been getting done underground. If you look really hard you might spot evidence of the newly installed lift-station (extremely important for the functioning of our awesome new bathrooms) somewhere among all the snow, but all the rest of the work that has been done recently is underground.

One of the top questions we get asked concerning our shift in location has to do with some of the beautiful artwork in our church. The old church at 102 S Seminary has some incredibly beautiful stained glass. And the good news is, a lot of it is going with us!

The south-facing window of the current location features an image from the book of Revelation. It comes from the Letter to Laodicea in chapter 3 (currently being studied in our Senior’s Bible Study on Tuesday mornings at 10)

Our Building Committee and Trustees are soon to begin the first part of our plan for the stained glass. It will involve the removal of several large panels so that they can be prepared for display in the new building. The beauty of our church’s windows will be coming with us, and the hope is that some of the stained glass can be ready to display on opening day! We are committed to preserving our history and our church’s story in this move and we are glad to be carrying these beautiful pieces of artwork with us.

New Year, New Sign!

In the new sign put up by Morton Buildings you can see the most up-to-date rendering of the new building, the colors and layout are all correct. It will be a great new building with a modern look, that still keeps some of the traditional elements of a church in its design.

If you get the chance to drive by the site you can spot the new sign that shows a fully up-to-date rendering of the new building. It’s great to have a fresh new vision for 2020. We pray that the promise of a modern church building on this new site will bring excitement and inspiration to our town.

This will be a beautiful place for us to showcase some of our excellent programming and ministry opportunities! With the new room that this facility provides we also look forward to starting a few new ministries for our community as well!

There’s still a lot more work to do. Some of it you’ll see in the next few weeks.

We’d also like to begin the year with a list of all that has been accomplished, and what’s up and coming for the project. So far you’ve seen:
* The construction entrance built
* The site layout and fencing are done
* The topsoil has been stripped and stockpiled for later use
* The Fire Hydrant and Culvert are installed

Here’s a list of what’s still ongoing:
* Some utility work at the pump-station
* The Storm Sewer

And this is what’s waiting for the weather to improve:
* The work on the building pad, drainage basin, and green-space
* And of course all the work that comes after that.

All is calm, all is bright

A quiet worksite on Christmas Eve is a good thing. May the Lord bless you and your family as you pause to remember the greatest gift that God has ever given us.

Nothing new to report this week, as we pause, spend time with family, and remember the blessing of Jesus Christ. Our church wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas. If you’re able to join us for Christmas Eve we meet at 102 S Seminary at 5:00 and 7:00 PM.

May the Lord bless you and your family this holiday season. Stop back by the website in the new year and we’ll keep you updated on the construction process and all that the church is doing to prepare for the move to our new location in 2020!

Let it Snow! 12/19/19

A snow-covered worksite and a Merry Christmas to all our readers!

The worksite has a beautiful Christmas look to it! We always knew that the weather could (and likely would) slow us down a bit and now that has happened. The building pad will require some optimum conditions to get it just right for our new church. In a few months, when spring hits, you should see some great work resuming.

Not everything is stopping on the project though: You’ll see the finishing of a lot of underground work over the winter (water and sewer lines, pump station, and maybe even the drainage basin). All of this will help us to move even more quickly when conditions are again favorable.

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. We’ll be celebrating at the current location of 102 S. Seminary with two Christmas Eve services (5 and 7 PM). Come and join us for traditional Christmas carols, candlelit Silent Night, and a telling of the Christmas story. Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our Church’s ministry, and the New Building, and may God bless you and yours this Christmas.

A Visit to the Site 12/12/19

A panoramic view of the worksite. This is the front-right-hand corner of the building. You can see the different stakes marking out the location of the new building. The front of the building starts at the closest stake, goes past that white pipe in the background to a finish that you can’t really see but it’s back there by that pile of gravel on the left. The side of the building goes off to the right and you can see the other portions marked with stakes in the distance.
For Reference, I was standing right by this corner of the new structure, when I took the panoramic. So picture yourself standing there and looking at the building.

It was cold today but the ground was way less muddy than when we gathered to break ground. The building footprint had been marked out with stakes that showed where the corners and edges were. Each stake was also marked to show how high the foundation would need to be in each area.

A few of us got to walk around the area of what would be the chapel and the offices, and we can now say with great confidence that when we “estimated” where to stand and pray for the groundbreaking, we were right on the front doors of the building!

Please continue to pray for the new building. We want very much for this to be Holy Ground, to be a place where it is easier to encounter the presence of God, and an outpost of service and the love of Christ.

Excavation Continues!

Good work being done today, and right by the sign too!

12/6/2019

The fence is up, piles of gravel are arriving (you can see them in the background) and the work continues even on a colder day like today. Please pray for the safety of all working on the site, and for weather that is good enough to set some important and upcoming foundation work. It’s a real joy to watch the new locating taking shape, please continue to be in prayer and share the good news!

The Footprint of a New Church

Photo as of 12/3/19

The excavators have begun their work today!  They’re putting up the necessary fencing, and beginning the work of removing the first few layers of dirt from the field.  You can just begin to see a bit of the footprint of the new location (building and parking lot) on the field now.  If the weather holds this week there should be a good amount of progress on the site.  Drive on by 150 when you get the chance and you’ll see the footprint of our new church location taking shape.  Thanks be to God for getting us to this point, this new church will be a great place for the ministry of the church to grow in. 

Ground has Been Broken!

This past Sunday (11/24/19) after the worship service, members of the church gathered at 11:00 to break ground on the new facility. We walked all the way into the field to the place where the front door of the new church would be (and we took a lot of the field with us on our boots when we left!).

It was a very special service with the hymn The Churchs One Foundation, scripture, and prayer. Each member of the building committee spoke a blessing over the site before breaking the ground. May the Lord bless the work that has been done to bring the church to this point. May God bless the work that will be done as a new church home rises and takes shape on this site, and may that church be a beacon of the Kingdom of God, for our entire community.

Please continue to pray for the project, for the ministries of the church, and join us in offering thanksgiving for all that God has done.

11/21/19 Rain Delay

In the photo you can see the first piece of equipment on the site, a grader, to start the excavation process. The utilities have been marked and on the temporary sign you can even see what our new address will be:

205 S Highway Avenue

We promise that a much better looking sign is on the way with an up-to-date rendition of what the outside of the new building will look like! Keep an eye out for it.

There was a plan to get a lot more excavation done this week, but the weather has slowed things down. That’s something the Lord is in charge of, and this entire project has always been on God’s timing. We do ask for your prayers for favorable weather and for safe construction. If it’s nice tomorrow, you may see some more activity on the site, so drive by and take a look.

As your building committee meets more often to go over details, budget, colors, and quite a few other things please pray for the Lord to keep us focused on our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, and pray for wise decisions, good stewardship, and more exciting steps forward (like the first piece of equipment on the site!).

Downs UMC New Building Update 1

Praying at our new property

Thanks for reading! As our project gets started it’s our hope to give regular weekly updates on the building process, we’re starting out this week with just a little bit of history:

Construction projects aren’t new for the Downs United Methodist. Our Congregation has been in existence here in the Tri-Valley area since 1833. And since that time we’ve had 4 different locations here (an old schoolhouse, a union church shared with Presbyterians, a wooden building east of Hopewell Cemetery, and both a wooden and brick structure at our current location of 102 S Seminary). As the needs of the community and church have shifted, so has our church building, and it’s time to do so again. We have dearly loved the place where we are now, but the limitations of parking, handicap accessibility, and space for children’s ministry are best overcome with a new location.

On October 20th of this year, after the finish of our third building campaign, the congregation reviewed the plans and voted to begin the construction of a new facility. The new location will be on the East Side of State Route 150 (look for our sign), not too far from the entrance to the Tri-Valley Middle School. Just this last Sunday November 17th we also celebrated the ordering of the construction work for our new building.

We do ask that all readers be in prayer for the project. Our church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We wholeheartedly believe that one of the best ways to do that is to share the Good News of God with one another and with the community. We look forward to the many new ways that this can be accomplished in our new location. Come back next week for another update and we’ll share more of the story.