The Builder
February 2022
Join Us for Worship Online
The Year of the People Report
It’s the Year of the People! And what better way to celebrate than with a newly formatted communication plan. We asked, you replied, we listened. Our new communications plan will include a weekly Monday morning email titled “ICYMI” (that stands for “in case you missed it”). It’ll offer individual links to view the previous day’s recordings of the pastoral prayer, the special music, and the message. Watch any or all of the worship at your leisure throughout the week. It’ll also include Sunday morning’s announcements, so you can stay in the loop.
You’ll also receive a weekly Friday morning email that will only contain links for the coming Sunday morning’s worship bulletin (digital and print copy), and links for the multiple viewing options to watch Sunday morning’s live-stream worship.
And lastly, you’ll receive a monthly newsletter, The Builder, at the beginning of each month. This more narrative format will include news and updates from various ministries, committees, teams, and partners. It will also include a monthly article from the pastors. This will be “The Year of the People Report,” and it will focus on recognizing or celebrating progress in our goal of making care and compassion for one another a top priority in 2022.
We’ll welcome your feedback and receive it in the spirit it is offered. Let us know what you think!
You are loved, Broad Street!
Pastor John
New Mission Statement is Published
by Pastor John
“Who are we and what are we about at Broad Street?” This was one of the recurring questions that emerged during the New Pastor Meet & Greet conversation groups last summer. At the 2021 State of the Church address last fall, I reported that I heard you in those conversations, and promised you I would work to bring clarity and direction.
Mission statements have been part of Broad Street’s DNA for a long time. They change and grow with the congregation over time. Our new mission statement articulates who we are right now and what’s most important to us.
A vision statement, on the other hand, states who we ascribe to be. I am part of a visioning cohort comprised of clergy and laity from around the country—each of us learning how to craft a unique and meaningful vision for our ministry settings. Will a vision statement be forthcoming? Absolutely. Will it be here soon? In the scope of Broad Street’s 137-year history, I suppose it could be considered “soon.” But before we can focus on who we ascribe to be, I believe we must first embrace who we are, and live into our identity and purpose.
To that end, I presented the new mission statement to the Leadership Board at the January 17, 2022, meeting and thanked the individuals who helped craft this short, concise, easy-to-memorize statement that answers your questions from last summer, “who are we and what are we about?” Once we’re able to resume in-person worship you’ll begin to see our mission statement around the build as a reminder of who we are and what we’re about at Broad Street.
“We are a building, a people, and a place of inclusive welcome
for those seeking justice and relationships for all people.”
“God, what do you want to do through us now?”
Some of you may recall a study that was conducted in late 2020 by Reverend Franklin ‘Zip’ Long as part of the Next Level Generosity program. He interviewed folks, asked lots of questions, and worked to learn about all of the intricacies of the workings of Broad Street United Methodist Church. The goal was a report that would help us get a better idea of what makes Broad Street tick. What are doing today and what can we do tomorrow, to ensure God’s work through us continues for many more years to come? Don’t remember that? That’s okay we all had a few other things on our minds for the bulk of 2020 and 2021.
Rev. Long submitted his final report in January 2021 and it has provided a road map for harnessing the generous energy of Broad Street, including the creation of a Generosity Team. Karen Haylor, Kylie Smith, and HL Wright have all agreed to serve on the Generosity Team and will work closely with Pastor John for the coming year. Our team is committed to the mission and vision of the church and is willing to share the joy of giving and the direct results of congregational giving throughout the year. This isn’t just a stewardship campaign or pledge drive. We recognize the importance of financial gifts to the church, but we think it’s the relationships that really inspire Broad Street’s generosity of time, talent, and treasure. We said it ourselves in those conversations with Zip Long. We said that we can’t imagine a world without our relationships with God, with each other, and with our neighbors, and those, in turn, inspire us to give generously.
We believe generosity and gratitude are linked. They form a cycle of positivity and selflessness that are linked to the Good News message of the New Testament. They promote an “Era of Good Feelings” of personal fulfillment.
During the past 22 months since the pandemic began, I have used many daily strategies to cope with being cut off from friends, family, and normalcy, physically and emotionally. I have learned that if I focus on all the positives in my life, I am filled with gratitude…to God and those around me. I send thanksgiving through prayer daily. I have also begun a practice of saying thank you in all communication, be it by phone, email, or in person. I’ve found that there is always something for which to be grateful, a silver lining of sorts.
How good it feels to give out these thanks, and often one is given in return. Gratitude is a salve to soothe the rough spots in life. And it feels so good!
Keep an eye out for more news from the Generosity Team. We can’t wait to observe 40 Days of Love during Lent. We’re planning some incredible educational sessions, and all the while, we’ll continue to pray, “God, what do you want to do through us now?” We hope you’ll join us!
Submitted by the Generosity Team
Karen Haylor, Kylie Smith, HL Wright
February is Black History Month
February is dedicated as Black History Month, honoring both the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history, including the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the many artistic, cultural, and political contributions and achievements of our siblings.
What we know as Black History Month today began in 1915, nearly half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. It started as a week-long event intended to inspire schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs, and host performances and lectures.
By the 1960s, “Negro History Week” had evolved into “Black History Month” on many college campuses. And in 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized “Black History Month,” calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
As we were recently discussing worship plans for the months ahead, we kept coming back to February and “Black History Month.” We wanted to honor the history and sentiment of the observance. But we kept getting stuck. “Black History Month.” “Month.”
“That’s it?” we kept asking ourselves. “A month?” How can we live into our new mission statement if we continue to put people in little boxes like this? How can we live into our new mission statement if we only allot the shortest month of the year to recognize the history and stories of our siblings of African American and African descent?
And then an idea was hatched. What if we spent the month of February listening to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? What if we didn’t spend the month of February writing sermons about what we think Black History Month means to us individually or collectively as a church, and instead we used the words of Dr. King to remind us that we have work to do?
We are in the process of securing permission from publishers to showcase some of Dr. King’s sermons on each of the Sundays in February. If permission is granted, we will preach a sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. each Sunday of February, aiming to expand the confines of a month-long observance, and inviting us to find new ways to bring our observances into Broad Street’s new mission statement:
“We are a building, a place, and a people of inclusive welcome
for those seeking justice and relationships for all people.”
Submitted by Pastors John & Angie
2022 Leadership Board
The Leadership Board officers and members were elected at the November 15, 2021, Charge Conference. The board provides administrative governance to enable, support, and equip the people of the church in fulfilling its mission of being “a building, a place, and a people of inclusive welcome for those seeking justice and relationships for all people.”
Broad Street’s Leadership Board has several responsibilities. It has fiduciary responsibility for the tangible assets of the church; strategic responsibility for setting priorities to support the mission of the church; and generative responsibility for assessing the ministry environment, community needs, and resources for missional ministry.
Board membership comprises and satisfies the administrative committees required by the Book of Discipline (our denominational laws). Three members of the board have SPRC (Staff-Parish Relations Committee) responsibilities and comprise the Personnel Subcommittee; three members have Trustees responsibilities and comprise the Facilities Subcommittee; three have Finance responsibilities and comprise the Finance Subcommittee. And three have ministry area responsibilities, similar to “at large” responsibilities, and comprise the leadership of the Congregational Care, Mission and Justice, and Inviting and Welcoming ministry areas. Also included on the board is the Lay Leader, as well as a Lay Member of Annual Conference, and the Senior Pastor. You’ll have an opportunity to learn more about each of these subcommittees, teams, and members in future editions of the monthly Builder.
The 2022 Leadership Board servants are as follows:
Board Chair: Kylie Smith
Vice-Chair / Chair-elect: Jenni Cahill
Secretary: Shelley Hobson
Treasurer: Chris Clough
Personnel Subcommittee (SPRC responsibility)
Jon Sadler (chair)
Jenni Cahill
Walt Jeffreys
Facilities Subcommittee (Trustees responsibility)
Nathan Sims (chair)
Julie Novel
Rebecca Craycraft
Finance Subcommittee (Finance responsibility)
Chris Clough (chair)
Keith Holten
Kylie Smith
Ministry Team Leaders include:
Lay Leader: Rob Hazlett
Lay Member to A/C: Walt Jeffreys
Congregational Care: Nancy Roberts
Mission & Justice: Craig Vander Veen
Inviting & Welcome: Shelley Hobson
Staff Liaison: Rev. Angie Cox
Support for Leadership Board members’ work includes:
Finance: Jennifer Blattler (Church Treasurer) and Lydia Keller (Financial Secretary)
Facilities: Justin Nelson Nowakowski
Ministry of the Laity: Rev. Angie Cox
Church history: Don Christenson
The first 2022 Leadership Board meeting was held on January 17th. While most of the members are continuing their terms from last year, a few members are new to their posts. Since we cannot be together in-person for a prayer and blessing over the officers, members, and leaders of this year’s Leadership Board, I invite you to pray the following prayer for our servant leaders as you have time and occasion. Let us pray:
Almighty God, pour out your blessings upon these your servants who have been given particular ministries in your church. Grant them grace to give themselves wholeheartedly in your service. Keep before them the example of our Lord, who did not think first of himself, but gave himself for us all. Let them share his ministry and consecration, that they may enter into his joy. Guide them in their work. Reward their faithfulness with the knowledge that through them your purposes are accomplished; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Looking to the future,
Pastor John
Nurturing Ministries
As a vital and vibrant faith community, Broad Street UMC needs good working groups of believers, all functioning in various ways to care for and nurture our congregation. One of the new positions in our structure is that of the Coordinator of Nurturing Ministries, a position in which I am privileged to serve. I am not the leader of these ministries, but I am pledged to help them in any way I can and to act as a facilitator of connection within our church family. I keep in contact with the Worship Committee, Prayer Ministers, Come to the Water Christian Healing Ministry, Compassionate Care Ministry, History and Archives Committee, Dinners for Eight Ministry, Broad Street Book Club, and Children’s Ministry/Education. These groups are doing God’s work in reaching out to the people of our church in love and care. I will continue to report on the good news of this most blessed work to you and to our Leadership Board and to help these folks, and therefore all of you. Many blessings of the love of God to all.
Nancy Roberts
Inviting and Welcoming Ministries
I lead the Inviting and Welcoming ministry. We invite friends and neighbors to discover God's love at Broad Street. Although the pandemic has kept us apart physically, we will continue to have greeters and ushers to welcome the congregation when we can meet again, and future hospitality in some form of a coffee hour after church, when it is safe to do so. There will be a visitor relationships coordinator to reach out to new guests. Broad Street is a beautiful church building, rich with history; as such we have talented teams to help us create inviting spaces, inside and out, from our Sanctuary, Narthex, and interior spaces to curb appeal, keeping the exterior spaces clean and green, blooming, trimmed, and tidy throughout the seasons. We want to extend our welcome by hosting future outside events in public spaces when time and weather permit. All of these ministries are made possible by the generosity of volunteers, so if you feel called to help or want more information on any of these, please contact me!
Shelley Hobson
Shepherd Program
What image does a shepherd conjure in your mind? Do you think of David tending his flock and writing his many psalms of praise? Or do you think of Jesus’s command to rescue the one stray of the flock of one hundred?
We at Broad Street are a diverse flock, yet we’ve united under one roof to learn about and praise one God. Wouldn’t we feel even more a part of this congregation if we knew more about each other? What might it be like to be part of smaller groups tended by a Shepherd whose mission is to care, connect, and communicate?
That is the thinking and purpose behind the newly forming Shepherd Program. Members of the congregation will be contacting you soon to learn more about you and to help make you feel more a part of the church. It is our hope that this concept feels comfortable and that it brings us all into a more unified relationship with each other and with God.
Karen Haylor
Broad Street in the News
Your continuing faithfulness in giving to the mission and ministries of Broad Street is deeply appreciated. We are especially grateful to those who have switched to online giving, as we do not have to process checks to receive those gifts. To give via check or cash, you are welcome to give in-person on Sunday mornings or mail your offerings directly to the church. To give online, we encourage you to use one of the options below.
Go to broadstreetumc.net and click on “Giving” or click on the button directly below.
Download the free Vanco Mobile app on your device and search for Broad Street.
Text the dollar amount to (614) 528-4075.
Recurring Events:
Sunday: 11 a.m. Livestream of Sunday worship
Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Church Office Open
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Columbus Coalition of the Homeless Warming Center
Monday-Saturday: 12 p.m. 501 AA
Wednesday: 3 p.m.–6 p.m. Manna Cafe
Meetings:
February 1: 7 p.m. Heart of the City Foundation—Zoom
February 16: 7 p.m. Finance Sub-Committee—Zoom
February 21: 7 p.m. Leadership Board—Zoom
Church Anniversaries:
February 27: Broad Street Reconciling Ministries 16th Anniversary
