The Case Statement
by Rev. David Wright

The College Street Congregational, United Church of Christ, has been a physical and missional presence in our city for nearly 150 years. The witness of its members and ministry is woven into the very fabric and spirit of our community. “Conductors” of the underground railroad, founders of the Converse Home and Sara Holbrook Center, important contributors to the Lund Family Center and the Baird Center figure prominently in our church’s story. Meals on Wheels, the Champlain Valley Folk Festival and even ermont Public Radio have origins within our walls. Civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, human rights - we continue to contribute the counsel of an enlightened faith to the issues of our day.

A local church is the presence of the Spirit of Christ in a particular place. Every spirit needs a body and we are the body of Christ (Romans 12:5, I Cor. 12:27). Love needs to be grounded, to have a location, a place to be. In December of 1994 we had a great fire which caused us to contemplate what it would be like to be without our building. It was empowering to learn that the church around us is within us. But when we raised our hundreds of candles on the following Christmas Eve, we also knew it would not be the same if we were not in a beautiful sanctuary and that a baptism without the church family present, or a memorial service that filled even the balcony would not be the same in a funeral home. The faith and character of our church have been shaped and enhanced by our building.

The Vision Statement expressed in our church’s Long Range Plan states that “In faithful response to God’s love we will strive to nurture our souls, stretch our minds, work for justice and peace, build community and open our arms through worship, stewardship and radical Christian discipleship.” That makes it clear that our church’s purpose is not to maintain a historic building but also that we need a building for our purpose.

No one could look at our church without realizing that we have been gifted with a beautiful and unique worship space with an ample assembly room below. But it’s as though our building was never finished to provide the educational and administrative space necessary to the life of our church. Both our gifts and our deficits have been expressed in our church’s priorities ever since. We have meaningful worship and wonderful music, we are perennial leaders in the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ in mission giving and outreach, we are a caring and loving church family. But over the years our growth has been impeded by the inadequacy of our facility. The antiquated condition of our sanctuary and lack of an inviting, accessible exterior have contributed to the underuse of our facility.

All of this leads me to believe that the proposed renovation and new addition to our building represent not only the opportunity of a life time for many of us as individuals but an opportunity in the life time of our church.

The possible construction of the project has been broken down into five phases. Unless we are going to move to another location, the first phase, Envelope repair (roof,masonry, wood trim, and truss stabilization), is necessary. Phase II & III involve accessibility - things like a new sloped walk to the front door, a crying room, new lighting, sound, carpet and paint, an elevator, enlarged door to the sanctuary, renovated offices. Phase IV involves the addition of five new classrooms, offices for Choir and C.E. Directors under a terraced green roof with skylights and geothermal heating off the Assembly Room filling in the “gully” between our basement level on the East side and Union Street. I believe this one addition would change the life of our church. Phase V involves completing the Perkins Room attic space. Each of these phases represents a real need of our church, directly relates to our church’s vision while completing its original vision begun in 1860.

The total cost of these improvements is estimated to be $2,400,000. This will obviously mean a significant sacrifice for each and every member and friend of College Street Church. To raise these funds, a capital campaign is underway and Jeff Newlin, a consultant from RSI - Resources Services Inc. has been engaged. The campaign will last three years* beginning this Spring and will reach its conclusion in the 150th Anniversary Year of our church.

We hope that you will join us in this endeavor. In the words of our Long Range Plan, we all get to be carpenters in creating the “Church of our Dreams” in which Christ is the cornerstone and we are all being “built together with others into a place where God lives through the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22)