A labyrinth open to the community is one ministry of McMinnville (Ore.) Cooperative Ministries, a United Methodist-Lutheran joint venture. A UMNS Web-only photo courtesy of McMinnville Cooperative Ministries.A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
When a United Methodist congregation and a Lutheran congregation in McMinnville, Ore., formed a cooperative ministry two years ago, the decision emerged out of a desire to share a common mission, not out of desperation.
Neither the McMinnville United Methodist Church nor Trinity Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was in danger of closing, according to the Rev. Stephan Ross, the United Methodist pastor.
"Both of our churches could survive quite well on their own," he explained. But the congregations liked the idea of being "a model of and a testimony to the unity of the church, which transcends denominational distinctions."
In the Oregon community, the United Methodists and the Lutherans share nearly everything--meeting space, music and education programs and mission outreach. And by a simultaneous vote on April 6, they became co-owners of the United Methodist property, with the Lutherans investing about $850,000 from their building fund. Each congregation now is half-owner of McMinnville Cooperative Ministries Inc., which owns the property on their behalf.
McMinnville Cooperative Ministries embodies the spirit of the agreement of full communion which The United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will vote on when their respective legislative bodies meet this year and next year.
The United Methodist vote comes during the 2008 General Conference, which meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. To mark the occasion, ELCA presiding Bishop Mark Hanson will preach during morning worship on April 29.
Full communion would mean recognition of each other's faith--including the authenticity of each other's baptism and eucharist, the validity of each other's ministries and the interchangeability and reciprocity of all ordained ministers.
Blazing new trails
The two Oregon congregations "are blazing new trails in ecumenical partnerships," according to the Rev. W. Douglas Mills, staff executive, United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
"They represent some of the best of the full communion covenant, which is the people of God making visible their unity around mission and ministry," he said. "In this new property venture, the two congregations become not just allies in ministry but joint partners."
The path to the cooperative ministry in McMinnville, southwest of Portland, began in 2001 with Trinity's search for adequate space for its congregation. The Rev. Mark Pederson, Trinity's pastor, said eight sites were considered, with initial plans made for six of those sites. However, Oregon's strict land use laws were a hindrance.
"None of them worked out," he told United Methodist News Service. "We kept trying different approaches, and God kept slamming the door in our face."
After completing a new addition at its downtown location in 2002, McMinnville United Methodist had plenty of space but was struggling with the increased mortgage, which made it difficult to afford additional staff. Worship attendance seemed flat at about 180 people weekly.
During a community mission trip to Mexico over spring break in 2004, participants from both congregations began to discuss whether they could provide other ministries more effectively together rather than separately. Later that year, a task force was formed, and in 2005, each church council approved plans to worship in the United Methodist facilities.
'Led to this solution'
Citing the environmental impact of their original plan, Pederson was happy with the outcome. "I believe we were led to this solution," he said.
Not everyone in the Lutheran congregation approved of the cooperative agreement, however. "The Methodists were stronger than we were," he explained. "They had more income and more members."
The internal conflict, Pederson acknowledged, grew so intense that he went on medical leave for 30 days. But with the help of the "some spectacular leaders," the congregation voted in 2006--along with the United Methodists--in favor of the cooperative arrangement.
"It's worked wonderfully," he said. "We have been able to finally live out our mission." Together, the two congregations "run about as efficiently and effectively as a group of our size possibly could."
The United Methodist congregation was very supportive of the cooperative ministry, but some members were apprehensive about joint ownership of a property they had owned for 140 years, according to Ross. "This (ownership vote) was a pretty big step for the Methodists to take," he said, but added "we're claiming a future."
On Sundays, McMinnville Cooperative Ministries has a traditional United Methodist service at 8:45 a.m. and a traditional Lutheran service at 11 a.m. In between, at 9:30 a.m. in the "great room," is an informal "celebration" worship service with communion, open to anyone.
Staff arrangements
"Part of the cooperative ministry plan here is the intention and conviction that we should always have a full-time Lutheran clergyperson and a full-time United Methodist clergyperson," Ross said.
At the same time, the staff members, about half from each denomination, focus on different ministries. "We're intentionally evolving the ministry toward a team concept of ministry," he explained.
One full-time program staff member first became a United Methodist as college student, then attended a Lutheran seminary. A lay person, he now is in charge of small group ministry.
By sharing space, programs and mission work, the two congregations have been able to raise an additional $50,000 in direct mission giving. The annual joint trip to Mexico has continued, and a team was sent to Guatemala on a Habitat for Humanity trip this year. The cooperative also has a relationship with a local elementary school.
"We've just really had a multiplication of mission programs arise out of the energy created by the cooperative," Ross said.
Attendance is growing at all three worship serves, he added, and some people not affiliated with either denomination have been intrigued by the joint ministry and attracted by the focus on mission.
Trinity Lutheran, now at about 200 baptized members, initially lost 30 percent of its membership after the vote to form the cooperative ministry. "The new members coming in have almost exactly matched those withdrawals," Pederson said. "I really think our growth at this point could be explosive."
The Rev. Michael Trice, the ELCA's director of ecumenical formation and interreligious relations, said the relationship is an example of how the two denominations "have been working together in the North American context for generations."
He added that there are "creative and faithful ways for United Methodists and ELCA Lutherans to be in community together" and encouraged planning, programming, conversation and fellowship.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
When a United Methodist congregation and a Lutheran congregation in McMinnville, Ore., formed a cooperative ministry two years ago, the decision emerged out of a desire to share a common mission, not out of desperation.
Neither the McMinnville United Methodist Church nor Trinity Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was in danger of closing, according to the Rev. Stephan Ross, the United Methodist pastor.
"Both of our churches could survive quite well on their own," he explained. But the congregations liked the idea of being "a model of and a testimony to the unity of the church, which transcends denominational distinctions."
In the Oregon community, the United Methodists and the Lutherans share nearly everything--meeting space, music and education programs and mission outreach. And by a simultaneous vote on April 6, they became co-owners of the United Methodist property, with the Lutherans investing about $850,000 from their building fund. Each congregation now is half-owner of McMinnville Cooperative Ministries Inc., which owns the property on their behalf.
McMinnville Cooperative Ministries embodies the spirit of the agreement of full communion which The United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will vote on when their respective legislative bodies meet this year and next year.
The United Methodist vote comes during the 2008 General Conference, which meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. To mark the occasion, ELCA presiding Bishop Mark Hanson will preach during morning worship on April 29.
Full communion would mean recognition of each other's faith--including the authenticity of each other's baptism and eucharist, the validity of each other's ministries and the interchangeability and reciprocity of all ordained ministers.
Blazing new trails
The two Oregon congregations "are blazing new trails in ecumenical partnerships," according to the Rev. W. Douglas Mills, staff executive, United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
"They represent some of the best of the full communion covenant, which is the people of God making visible their unity around mission and ministry," he said. "In this new property venture, the two congregations become not just allies in ministry but joint partners."
The path to the cooperative ministry in McMinnville, southwest of Portland, began in 2001 with Trinity's search for adequate space for its congregation. The Rev. Mark Pederson, Trinity's pastor, said eight sites were considered, with initial plans made for six of those sites. However, Oregon's strict land use laws were a hindrance.
"None of them worked out," he told United Methodist News Service. "We kept trying different approaches, and God kept slamming the door in our face."
After completing a new addition at its downtown location in 2002, McMinnville United Methodist had plenty of space but was struggling with the increased mortgage, which made it difficult to afford additional staff. Worship attendance seemed flat at about 180 people weekly.
During a community mission trip to Mexico over spring break in 2004, participants from both congregations began to discuss whether they could provide other ministries more effectively together rather than separately. Later that year, a task force was formed, and in 2005, each church council approved plans to worship in the United Methodist facilities.
'Led to this solution'
Citing the environmental impact of their original plan, Pederson was happy with the outcome. "I believe we were led to this solution," he said.
Not everyone in the Lutheran congregation approved of the cooperative agreement, however. "The Methodists were stronger than we were," he explained. "They had more income and more members."
The internal conflict, Pederson acknowledged, grew so intense that he went on medical leave for 30 days. But with the help of the "some spectacular leaders," the congregation voted in 2006--along with the United Methodists--in favor of the cooperative arrangement.
"It's worked wonderfully," he said. "We have been able to finally live out our mission." Together, the two congregations "run about as efficiently and effectively as a group of our size possibly could."
The United Methodist congregation was very supportive of the cooperative ministry, but some members were apprehensive about joint ownership of a property they had owned for 140 years, according to Ross. "This (ownership vote) was a pretty big step for the Methodists to take," he said, but added "we're claiming a future."
On Sundays, McMinnville Cooperative Ministries has a traditional United Methodist service at 8:45 a.m. and a traditional Lutheran service at 11 a.m. In between, at 9:30 a.m. in the "great room," is an informal "celebration" worship service with communion, open to anyone.
Staff arrangements
"Part of the cooperative ministry plan here is the intention and conviction that we should always have a full-time Lutheran clergyperson and a full-time United Methodist clergyperson," Ross said.
At the same time, the staff members, about half from each denomination, focus on different ministries. "We're intentionally evolving the ministry toward a team concept of ministry," he explained.
One full-time program staff member first became a United Methodist as college student, then attended a Lutheran seminary. A lay person, he now is in charge of small group ministry.
By sharing space, programs and mission work, the two congregations have been able to raise an additional $50,000 in direct mission giving. The annual joint trip to Mexico has continued, and a team was sent to Guatemala on a Habitat for Humanity trip this year. The cooperative also has a relationship with a local elementary school.
"We've just really had a multiplication of mission programs arise out of the energy created by the cooperative," Ross said.
Attendance is growing at all three worship serves, he added, and some people not affiliated with either denomination have been intrigued by the joint ministry and attracted by the focus on mission.
Trinity Lutheran, now at about 200 baptized members, initially lost 30 percent of its membership after the vote to form the cooperative ministry. "The new members coming in have almost exactly matched those withdrawals," Pederson said. "I really think our growth at this point could be explosive."
The Rev. Michael Trice, the ELCA's director of ecumenical formation and interreligious relations, said the relationship is an example of how the two denominations "have been working together in the North American context for generations."
He added that there are "creative and faithful ways for United Methodists and ELCA Lutherans to be in community together" and encouraged planning, programming, conversation and fellowship.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
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