Moving Day Belfast United Methodist congregation settles into bigger, better location

BELFAST – In the middle of the June 3 Pentecost Sunday service, 200 members of the old red-brick United Methodist Church grabbed hymnals, folding chairs, anything they could carry, loaded cars and trucks and drove across the Belfast bridge to their new $1.5 million home on Mill Lane.

The new church has all the amenities their 142-year-old building did not – off-street parking, nine Sunday school classrooms, handicapped accessibility, offices, storage space and, most importantly, room to grow. Only the 300-seat sanctuary remains unfinished, but that will change in about a year. Until then, services will be in the fellowship hall.

Two large pieces of BUMC’s history still must be carried across the bridge – the 1,500-pound bell and the 554-pipe organ, built in 1879. Both will be moved by professionals, said the Rev. David Abbott, pastor of the church since 1996.

The cross from the altar joined the pews, altar table, lectern, baptismal font and Communion set from the old church as worshippers filed in and the Pentecost service continued. “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place,” Abbott said. “I can feel his mighty power and his grace.”

“In the last decade 10 UM churches in the state have moved to a new building,” said the Rev. Linda Campbell Marshall, pastor of the John Street United Methodist Church and former superintendent of the Central District. “I think the Belfast church is the largest UM church, square footagewise, in the state and the most modern in Waldo County.”

BUMC took a tentative step toward the move in 1984 when the congregation formed a long-range planning task force to consider future space needs. When Abbott arrived in 1996, the congregation was ready to decide what its future ministry should be and what kind of facility was needed and in 1997 decided to look for a new location.

“One of the big issues was parking,” Abbott said. “Every Sunday people jockeyed for on-street parking.” The old church was completed in 1859 when people walked to church. The Miller Street location has no parking lot and there is no municipal lot nearby.

“We also needed a facility that could better handle our ministry within and outreach,” he said. “The design of the building is a result of how we saw ourselves and the needs of the community.”

One of the goals of the congregation is to have the building used constantly, the minister added. Existing programs that will be able to use extra space include the Belfast Area Ministry Food Cupboard and youth ministry. The new facility also will allow the church to operate programs simultaneously.

New programs the church will offer include the Sonrise Balloon Adventure Day Camp July 16-20. Before the congregation held its first service in the new location, Waldo County Preschool and Family Services began renting the rooms used for Sunday school for a day care program.

“We’re not just a Belfast church,” Abbott declared. The church’s On Track with Snacks program provided granola bars and juice boxes to elementary school teachers so they could give snacks to children who didn’t have them. The Smitten with Mittens program collected 300 pairs of gloves and mittens so pupils who needed them would have a pair to take home and a pair to keep at school.

One of the things that allowed BUMC to make the move was the 10 percent increase in Waldo County’s population in the last decade. Growth in the church population has doubled since 1996, so members of the church building committee looked for suitable property in and around Belfast. Church member Jean Weaver donated half the parcel on Mill Lane and the church acquired an adjacent piece of land for a total of 11.5 acres.

Bernard declared the new space “wonderful” on Pentecost Sunday. “I don’t care if I ever go back to that other one,” he said. Abbott said that while seeing the building project come to fruition was rewarding, watching the faith of individuals in the congregation grow during the long process was “the most rewarding experience” he’s had as a pastor.

“The experts said the most we could expect to raise through contributions was $200,000,” said Abbott. “We raised $300,000. … We had a five-week prayer program, where 20 percent of the congregation prayed for the rest of the members,” he added. “As a result, we have an ongoing prayer ministry for the congregation. People were blown away by the power of it.”

Members of the congregation also helped finish the building by tiling and painting. Abbott said the goal is to have the new building serve the congregation as long and as well as the old one did.

“Church is a place to come and celebrate,” said Abbott. “Worship is about grace and having fun and enjoying a relationship with God.”

Informal Sunday services are held at 8:30 a.m. and traditional services at 10:30 a.m. For information, call the BUMC office at 338-5575.