Historical
Sketch
Significant
History
Yesteryear
in Church Union
Working with
the Local UM Congregations
The history of the Church
Union is a story of missionary outreach, of social service agencies
started and sustained, and congregations launched and assisted. A
summary of that history is attached.
Much of the story is unknown
in this time. Nationality missions were established in the early
part of the 20th Century. Social service agencies were founded
and/or supported. Congregations were started. Churches were
supported financially through difficult times. Well-known
congregations such as Mount Lebanon, Christ: Bethel Park, and
Baldwin Community were launched with the assistance of Church Union.
In the decade that encompassed the great depression, 1929-1938, more
than 30 congregations received financial assistance through the
Church Union.
In the last quarter of the 20th
Century, the focus of the Church Union has centered on the social
service agencies, following the loss of the building and property in
downtown Pittsburgh(Centre City Towers, Seventh & Smithfield),
Church Union resolved to maintain the heritage of service to
people. There was a consolidation of the Munhall Neighborhood House
with the Homestead Community Center, a merger that brought new focus
to the Methodist Union of Social Agencies. The Methouse project in
Munhall, a low income housing facility for the elderly, prospered.
Metowers in Avalon and Methousing North were added to the housing
ministries. Goodwill Industries greatly expanded and then achieved
independence. Ward Home and Zoar each shifted purpose and program
to meet the realities of the late 20th Century. Bethany
House Ministries maintained a Christian presence in the two city
neighborhoods and continued to serve residents there through every
kind of social upheaval. The Northside Congregate Feeding program,
sponsored by the Church Union, was launched, and continues to serve
nourishing food to people 3 times a week. The Shalom Zone program
and the Holy Boldness effort provided training and encouragement to
local church leaders who ministered in urban communities.
The Church Union now enters a new era of
its history. In the late summer of 2002, the Board of Directors
began a strategic planning process. Representatives and executives
of each of the affiliated agencies participated with the directors
in the planning meetings that continued into the second quarter of
2003. As a result of that process, the Board of Directors voted in
May 2003 to work toward full independence and autonomy of four of
the agencies: Bethany House Ministries, Methodist Union of Social
Agencies (MUSA), Robert Boyd Ward Home for Children, and Zoar New
Day. Independence has been achieved by Zoar, Ward and MUSA.
Bethany House continues as a program of Church and has achieved
incorporation and 501.C 3 status. Methouse, Metowers and Methousing
North continue their relationship with Church Union.
In 2003-2004, the Church Union launched the
Christian Leadership Academy, an educational endeavor conducted in
collaboration with the Pittsburgh District of the United Methodist
Church. The purpose of the Academy is to provide learning
opportunities that encourage, equip and empower lay and clergy
leaders of congregations in the metropolitan region. Courses are
designed and offered in fall and winter, with occasional courses
offered in the spring season.
Beginning in 2004, consultations with
congregations were offered using assessment tools provided by the
Hartford Religion Research Center, a service affiliated with the
Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT. Simultaneously, the Church Union
served as a catalyst in bringing several congregations into
relationship with the Church of Our Saviour, Northview Heights that
has resulted in an ongoing collaboration of mutual benefit to all
congregations involved. Churches from Murrysville, Pittsburgh,
Sewickley, Wexford and Whitehall have joined the collaboration in
various supportive ways in order to strengthen the congregation that
is located in a community where 71% of the residents live below the
poverty line. Those congregations have been enriched by the
interaction created when Church of Our Saviour members visited in
their home communities.
A ministry of reconciliation that seeks to
bring together people of diverse ethnic, experiential and economic
backgrounds was launched in the autumn of 2007. The Church Union
has played a significant role in this ministry by providing
services, limited financial support, and counsel. The site of this
ministry is under lease to the Church Union, and the property issues
are managed by the Church Union.
A significant development was instituted in
2007 in collaboration with Presbyterian SeniorCare that included an
assessment of the high rise low income housing facilities for the
elderly and disabled. This assessment has resulted in a decision to
seek the refinancing of the Metowers facility in Avalon for purposes
of major renovation of the facility. Also as a result of this work,
a marketing study of the Methouse facility in Munhall was
undertaken. The Church Union Board of Directors has recommitted the
agency to the housing ministry as a consequence of these
deliberations.
Also in 2007, a planning process has
concluded resulting in an adoption of a new mission and vision
statement. This action carried with it the commitment to a serious
consideration of all that is entailed in relevant communications
with the constituencies of the Church Union in 2008 and beyond.
Current programming also includes the
continuation of the Northside Congregate Feeding program in which
nearly 12,000 meals were served in 2007. Participants are offered
nutritious meals 3 times per weeks. The ministry is coordinated and
incorporates the volunteer efforts of 30 congregations from the
metropolitan area.
In 2008, $71,000 in proceeds from Church
Union Trust funds will support urban ministry through the Bethany
House Academy, the Methodist Union of Social Agencies, the Ward Home
for Children and New Dawn Outreach Ministries. In addition, an
amount of approximately $25,000 has been reserved for the
development of partnership ministries with United Methodist and
other entities on the Northside of Pittsburgh in 2008.
In the 2007-2008 school year, $49,500 has
been received and distributed for 86 scholarships for pre-school
children through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program of
the PA Department of Economic and Community Development. Tax credit
funds were received from UPMC Health Care Network, Equitable
Resources, WV Financial Bank Corp, and West View Savings Bank.
Significant History
Missionary Activities
Grace Chapel
Mission 1894
Robinson Street Mission 1895
Italian Mission, Wylie Avenue 1904
Polish Mission, Southside 1908
Trinity Temple, Smallman Street 1908
Becks Run Mission 1913
Contributions to Congregations
Institutional Activities
North Side
Day Nursery 1905
Epworth Woods Fresh Air Camp 1911
R B Ward Home for Children 1918
Goodwill Industries 1919
John Munhall Neighborhood House 1923
Homestead Community Center c1930
Bethany House Ministries 1962
Zoar Home 1965
Methouse 1968
Methodist Union of Social Agencies 1973
(consolidation of Munhall House & Homestead Center)
Metowers 1977
Methousing North 1980
United Campus Ministry Affiliation 1999
1994
An operating budget of $179,720 and a Trust Funds budget of
$85,959 was adopted by the Board of Directors.
Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes, January 27, 1994
1979 Dorothy Werling continues to manage the
Methouse operation (Parkview Towers, Munhall) with skill and pastoral
care. The Board has recently added two new members, Lillian Sloan and
Richard Sells. Consideration is being given to some needed building
improvements. There is a waiting list of about five years for
available apartments.
Report of Executive Director, Paul
Schrading to Board, May 29, 1979
1954
The Board of Directors voted to purchase property in
Monroeville for a new church start. The property includes 3 acres of
land, two residences and a garage. One residence will be used as a
parsonage and the other for church purposes. The cost of $33,000 is
involved, and after available Conference funds are applied, the Church
Union agreed to an encumbrance of $16,094. At the same meeting the
Board agreed to move ahead with the building of the new Ward Home in
Mount Lebanon at a cost of $373,955 even though this is ‘about $86,000
more than is in sight.’
Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes, May 28, 1954
1929
At the suggestion of Bishop Herbert Welch, the Corporation of
the Methodist Episcopal Church Union met in Smithfield Street Church,
January 10, to see if Methodism could find a better program for
meetings its responsibilities in the greater city. A survey committee
of twenty-five, of which Bishop Welch is chairman, was appointed.
The Pittsburgh
Methodist, April-June 1929
1904
Some of the members at Lincoln Avenue started a Sunday School
three years ago at a point remote from any point leasing a building
that was adapted to the purpose. A party applied for a license for a
saloon on the adjoining lot but the nearness of the school prevented
his getting it. During the year the property had to be sold to settle
an estate. The would be saloonkeeper was anxious to purchase. This
would have left the school without a place to meet. We purchased the
property for three thousand dollars, paying five hundred cash and
placing a mortgage for one year of twenty-five hundred. I recently
employed a young man to take charge of it. We will organize a society
and appoint this young [man] to it at the next session of the
Conference.
Report of the Rev. T. H. Boyle,
Superintendent to Board of Directors, September 19, 1904
This is a summary listing of
local United Methodist congregations in Allegheny County that received
support from the Church Union through the 20th century. The support
included financial grants, loan guarantees, and land purchases.
Several of the congregations that were supported no longer exist.
This summary does not include congregations beyond Allegheny County
that received support. Is your congregation listed here?
1894:
Mifflin Avenue
1910’s: Becks
Run, Bellevue, Braddock Fourth Street, Brookline, Camphor Memorial,
Dormont, East McKeesport, Federal, Laketon Heights, Morningside, Mount
Lebanon, Natrona Heights, Salem, Shalerville, Swissvale, Warren,
Whitaker.
1930’s: Aspinwall,
Becks Run, Beechview, Butler Street, Calvary Pittsburgh, Camphor
Memorial, Federal, Knoxville, McCandless Avenue, Morningside, Natrona
Heights, Shalerville, Smithfield Street, Verona, Warren, Whitaker.
1940’s: Baldwin
Community, Becks Run, Beechview, Christ (Bethel) Church, Buena Vista,
Butler Street, Camphor Memorial, Federal, Laketon Heights, McKnight
Village, McMaster, Millerstown, Morningside, Mount Lebanon, Natrona
Heights, Rosedale, Smithfield Street, Spencer, Springdale, Walton,
West View, Whitaker.
1950’s: Bakerstown,
Baldwin Community, Becks Run, Brushton, Buena Vista, Butler Street,
Sharpsburg Grace, Central Highlands, Christ (Bethel) Church, Dutilh,
Fox Chapel, Glenshaw, Haven Heights, McKnight Village, Monroeville,
Noblestown, Salem, Sheridan Terrace, Trinity (McMurray), Walton, West
View, Windover Hills.
1960’s: Bakerstown.
(The summary information source ends in the early 1960’s).
1970-2003: Brushton,
Allegheny, Church of Our Savior, Warren, Immanuel, Garden City,
Greater Pittsburgh Korean, Observatory Hill, Calvary (Pittsburgh).
