Community
United Methodist Church
"
HISTORY OF COMMUNITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH - 1910 TO 1980
COMMUNITY IN 1964
Several delays in
the construction of the two wings made it necessary to reschedule the
consecration ceremonies for September 8, 1963. Bishop Hazen G. Werner
presided at the consecration service, with Harold Kellog, District
Superintendent, Pastor Chester Imhausen, Pastor William Reiley, and
Donald Kear, Chairman of the Building Committee, participating in the
service. Former Pastor Imhausen was invited back to Community for the
occasion in view of his past leadership in the first building program
and he gave the sermon for the first worship service.
At the Official
Board meeting held in July
1963, Rafael Marderosian, Chairman of the Commission on Education,
proposed that Community Methodist Church establish a kindergarten to
begin in September of that year if a favorable response was obtained
from a questionnaire submitted to the church membership. The Mad River
Board of Education did not operate a public kindergarten at this time
because of a lack of finances. The kindergarten was to be called
Eastview Kindergarten and was sponsored by Community Methodist Church
under the administrative control of the Kindergarten Committee. A
nominal fee was charged for each student and enrollment was not limited
to church families. This student fee was designed to meet the actual
school expenses for operating the bus, maintenance, salaries of the
teaching staff. From time to time, however, excess funds resulted and
the Kindergarten Committee voted to purchase much needed items for
Community, such as pianos and choir robes. Mrs. Doris Williams was
selected as director of the school, but after one year was succeeded by
Mrs Nadine Nagel. The kindergarten continued in operation until public
kindergarten was established for the township.
It is fitting
that we look at the state of
Community Methodist Church in June, 1964, which marked the end of the
pastorate of William Reiley and the beginning of the leadership of
Pastor Theodore Shoemaker. Certain trends were becoming apparent and
others would become more noticeable during the next few years. Some of
these trends were not unique to Community. but were experienced alike
followed by the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church, and in fact by
most Protestant Churches in America. Some of these trends were the
result of movements and changes within the geographic area of the
community in which the church was located.
When the first
building of Community was
completed in 1954, there were no other Protestant Churches or Catholic
Churches within a two-mile radius of the new church. and not many
Protestant organizations within a three-mile radius. By 1964, however,
there were two established Protestant Churches (St. Marks and Spinning
Baptist) in addition to several other minor Protestant sects, and a
Catholic Church (St. Helen's) within this same area. Undoubtedly, the
presence of the two Protestant organizations competing for new members
had an impact on the growth rate of Community. In addition, the rapid
construction program of single family homes that flourished before 1954
began to taper off, impacting on membership growth potential.
Furthermore, the single family dwellings were being replaced in the
building pattern by multi-family or apartment buildings, the renters of
which tended to be transient visitors to the community, marking time
until they were able to cut down roots elsewhere.
Even within the
membership of Community, a
change in the structure of the family units was beginning to take
place. Sons and daughters of the church families, after marriage, were
being forced to move from the area in order to find new homes and
living space for the new life style. As a result, the average age of
the membership was rising, while the number of young people declined.
The high point in
Church membership at
Community was reached in 1965 when 910 full members were reported to
Annual Conference. It should be pointed out that full membership
statistics fluctuate somewhat from year to year because of differing
emphasis being placed on removal of non-active members. The trend at
Community did not follow the general trend of the Methodist Church as a
whole, as the Ohio Conference enjoyed a gradual increase in membership
until after the merger with the Evangelical United Brethren (E.U.B.'s)
in 1969, at which time the membership began a general decline that
continues to the present time.
By 1964, two
phases of the Church Master
Plan had been completed, with the first phase completely paid off and
approximately one-fourth of the indebtedness liquidated for the second
phase. Serious questions were being asked in 1964 whether construction
of the main sanctuary of the Master Plan could be delayed much longer
because worship conditions were very crowded in the sanctuary of the
Education building, even with two or three worship services on Sundays.
On Easter morning, 1965, for example, a total of 998 people attended
the three church services, experiencing with 'the congestion of
temporary seating in the aisles and difficulty in finding adequate
parking.
Before 1968, a
significant portion of the
family membership of Community consisted of military and civilian
employees of the two Air Force installations located in the Dayton
area. For example, 4 percent of the family membership in 1966 were
military and over 20 percent were employees of the Federal Government.
Community Methodist was the nearest Methodist Church to the military
housing area at Page Manor. These military families contributed much of
their talents, resources, energy, and leadership during their military
assignments, although frequent turnovers in membership and increasingly
non-resident membership was a natural result while the former military
members were making new church homes. In January, 1968, a Base Chapel
was dedicated in the Page Manor area, and churches were prohibited from
canvassing Page Manor, an event that presaged a gradual decline in the
percentage of military families within the church.
While the merger
of the E.U.B.'s and the
Methodist Churches, previously alluded to, did not take place until
1969, it is relevant to discuss the impact of this merger on Community
at this point. There were two E.U.B. churches just beyond the two mile
radius of Community, in the same areas where some of the membership of
Community resided. It is difficult to state positively that the merger
of the two church organizations impacted adversely on Community because
many other factors were involved. However, a study of the years just
prior to the merger and immediately afterwards, leads one to suspect
that Community lost more members to the new United Methodist
fellowships formed by the merger than it gained. It appears that most
people tend to attend the church of their faith nearest their homes.