Gleanings From
In Christian Fellowship
By Shirley Lindahl
Edited by Jerry Rutherford
Name Change to Kirkland Community Church
By the summer or 1921 the merger was becoming a reality. It was decided a committee of 15 would be the governing body or the new church. The names of the two denominations were dropped and the new church was called the Kirkland Community Church. The Methodists were to provide the first minister, Rev. Temple, who received a salary of $2500 a year plus a parsonage.
On August 21 the first committee meeting was held with C. E. White elected chairman and W. E. Sherbrooke, secretary. Carrie Shumway became financial secretary and O. S. Penney, treasurer. Committees organized were Sunday School, Woman's Work, Finance, Music, Building and Upkeep, Publicity, Social, Young People's Work, Membership and Reception.
Other action taken at this historic meeting included passing a motion to authorize giving members a choice of three memberships: Methodist, Congregational or Community Church.
It was voted to use the Congregational building as the church and the Methodist building, located one block north, for the Sunday School. Extra seats were moved to the church building, now to be called the Community Church. When the families arrived for Sunday morning services, the parents entered the church while the children scurried up the path to their Sunday School building.
Those without letters of transfer were asked to take a church vow when they united with the church. The application card read: "Desiring to lead a Christian life and to do all in my power to advance Christ's Kingdom, I hereby apply for membership in the Kirkland Community Church. I promise to be loyal to the church and join into its activities."
The new membership pledge stated:
In uniting yourself with the Kirkland Community Church, do you hereby declare your purpose to live in charity with all the children of God, to walk with Jesus Christ in obedience, service and sacrifice, to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the community, to attend the stated services of this church and to assist by any means in your power in its work and worship?
Although they did not want to retain denominational identity, the committee of 15 realized this was not feasible. It was decided that "each affiliation appoint a secretary to take care of their strictly denominational obligations and that said funds be not included in the Kirkland Community Church budget."
Building use was discussed at one board meeting and it was decided "when an outside organization was given permission to use the building they must be required to leave it in good condition or pay $1.00 for the necessary clean-up work." It was voted to dig-up the lawn and seed it in the spring.
Using two buildings created some security problems so the building committee recommended putting new locks on both and giving keys only to the heads of departments using the buildings. Budgeting for the joint church was difficult the first year.
(Building use problems are always there whether it is l999 or 1921.)
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