By July, Michael had secured a position as Davie County’s Emerging Community Pastor — one of 18 such positions created by the Western North Carolina Conference with a $5.25 million grant from the Charlotte-based Duke Endowment.
With more churches closing than opening — not only in the United Methodist Church but across all U.S. Christian denominations — the grant allows the two North Carolina Methodist conferences to experiment with new models for doing church.
Michael now serves two roles: as pastor to the new Grace church and as a roving pastor to the county at large. She and members of the Grace mission recently started hosting a semimonthly dinner gathering in the town of Coolemee, where many families live in poverty, with a per capita income of $36,570. At a recent Tuesday night dinner, about 10 townspeople showed up for a meal of tacos, with seasoned ground beef and fixings, prepared by Grace volunteers.
Jim Wilson at the piano, left, and June Buzzard at the organ, right, lead Grace United Methodist Mission in music, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, in Advance, North Carolina. (RNS photo/Yonat Shimron)
On the first Saturday of December, members of Grace gathered in their new church home to decorate the space for Christmas. They hung ornaments on two Christmas trees, placed a dozen poinsettia plants across the worship area and arranged a Nativity scene and an Advent wreath near the altar.
The congregation is still working on renovating their rented space. They want to add a partition beside the bathrooms to create more privacy and add some storage space. Another aluminum garage door will be converted into a wall-sized window.
They are an older group; almost everyone is retired. They know that in order to survive they’ll need to attract more members. They’re hoping to find some at the gated retirement community in the town of Bermuda Run and among younger families interested in a more traditional service.
Members of this nascent church still talk frequently about the grief the disaffiliation caused. But one year later, many feel hopeful about a new future. As Michael lit the Advent candle on Sunday, they looked expectantly toward a new season in their church life.
“At this point, we’re growing our connections to one another and ready for what God shows us next,” said Sue Boggs.
“It’s almost like it freed us,” her husband Gary Boggs said of the disaffiliation. “We didn’t know it at the time, but it did. We couldn’t have found a better place to go.”
This article originally appeared here.
