4/15/2009 1:46:00 PM Memorial United Church of Christ marks 20 years in Fitchburg
Placing the steeple.
Rev. Phil Haslanger Pastor, Memorial United Church of Christ
It was early in the morning on Oct. 15, 1988 that people driving along Lacy Road saw an unusual sight.
A crane was lifting a steeple to the top of the frame structure that was emerging as a new church building at the edge of the developed area of the city. It was rising on a terminal moraine of rocky land formed by the last glacier to push its way into Wisconsin.
It has been 20 years since the people of Memorial United Church of Christ gathered to dedicate that new church on April 16, 1989. While the history of the congregation stretches back to its formation in downtown Madison in 1917, its life in Fitchburg now spans a generation.
The people of Memorial voted in 1987 to leave their beloved building on Madison Street, just off of Regent Street near the University of Wisconsin Field House, because they knew their future as a congregation there was limited. The members were aging, children were scarce, the potential for new growth was very limited.
Meanwhile, Fitchburg was growing as a newly-incorporated city. All Saints Lutheran Church also was getting established in Fitchburg at about the same time. There was a sense that this was a community that would embrace new places for worship.
At that dedication service 20 years ago, Rev. Eugene Wehrli, president of Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, spoke with amazement at the 15,000 hours in volunteer labor that some 80 members of the congregation contributed to make this building a reality. That was on top of the $600,000 they gave for the construction of the church.
And Rev. Frederick Trost, the leader of the United Church of Christ in Wisconsin, challenged the people gathered there that day to cherish the view through their clear windows into the world beyond the confines of this building.
That sense of looking out into the world has been part of the identity of Memorial throughout its history. Rev. Jon Schultz, the pastor who helped lead the people of Memorial UCC to Fitchburg, wrote about the opportunity this presented for what he called "a widening horizon of ministries."
The congregation had already been instrumental in helping start projects in Madison like the Parental Stress Center and the Triangle Community Ministry and the Adult Day Care Center. It provided the initial office space for HospiceCare, Inc., before either the church or the care facility settled in Fitchburg.
With the move to Fitchburg, Memorial UCC extended its reach in new directions.
It has long been a member of Allied Partners, a coalition of congregations helping to meet health care and food needs in the Allied Drive area. It has helped fill a gap in school lunches for low-income families at Leopold Elementary School. It has collected books for the Friends of the Fitchburg Library and hats and mittens for kids who need them in the cold months. It has served food at Fitchburg Days and provided coffee on chilly fall mornings at the youth football games at McKee Park.
And the people of Memorial have looked through those windows to places well beyond the borders of Fitchburg. Work crews regularly go to Biloxi, Miss., to help out at Back Bay Mission, which serves people in need in that Gulf Coast community. And under the leadership of Rev. Bonnie Van Overbeke, who retired as pastor at the beginning of this year, Memorial has nurtured a partnership with Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, providing insights into the struggles faced by Palestinian Christians.
When the people of Memorial UCC set in motion the move to Fitchburg almost a quarter of a century ago, they knew they were taking a risk. They were moving beyond the comfortable space they were used to and hoping that by planting a new church in a newly-formed city, they could revitalize their congregation and serve a community.
Twenty years after that April 16 dedication, Memorial has about 215 members plus another 50 or so people regularly associated with the congregation. It has close to 70 children in the congregation. It has put two additions onto the building, reflecting the growth in people and activities.
Last year, members contributed almost $34,000 to causes beyond the maintenance of their own congregation. And many of them are active in a wide variety of community and global causes - more than 150 different entities in a count made this month.
Now that distinctive steeple rises above the neighborhood around the church, signaling a place that is working with a new generation to provide a place committed to welcoming all, wherever they are on their spiritual journey, whatever their own personal condition. It seeks to help nurture their spirits and to help them care for the needs of the world.
Rev. Phil Haslanger is pastor of Memorial United Church of Christ. He served there as associate pastor starting in May 2007 and succeeded Rev. Bonnie Van Overbeke as pastor this past January. His e-mail is pastorphil@memorialucc.org.
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Heather Sokasits
I recently became a member of Memorial UCC and I am happy to see them highlighted. Congratulations Memorial UCC on 20 years of commitment to our community.
