At the 2020 annual meeting of the United Church of Underhill, a group was tasked with investigating the possible purchase of land behind the Church currently owned by Phil Jacobs. The group has evolved to include Dave Clift, Sandy Wilmot, Al Simard, Mark Stephenson, Dan Manz and Pastor Jen Mihok. The agreement at the annual meeting was for this working group to bring a recommendation back to the church body before making any commitments.
Over the next several weeks, this group will be sharing during worship and in written form some of the imaginings and possibilities that have come from our research and discernment. We will also hold an informational meeting after worship on August 2, and a formally warned meeting of the body on August 9 to vote on whether or not to pursue purchase of this property. Both of these meetings will occur at 11:15 immediately following worship at the same Zoom login.
Buying a piece of property is quite an undertaking, and we know there are a lot of questions. Why do this? Why now? With what funding? In our small group, we have come up with some preliminary answers to these questions, but the more important question is, is God calling us as a churchâ€â€even at a time like thisâ€â€to do a new, big thing?
Given priorities recently adopted by the church around social and environmental justice and community building, the small group sees some great missional possibilities. But the decision lies with all of us. Please tune into Sunday worship, Wednesday e-updates, and this webpage as we share more information. Then pray early and often that the good people of UCU might hear God’s voice amidst all our wonderings and move forward with confidence that we are stewarding God’s mission and our resources to the best of our abilities.