What’s Next with Making Room? A Capital Campaign!!

The members of JUC’s Board of Trustees have voted unanimously to move forward with a capital campaign to raise the money for the church swap/purchase with Lakewood Church of the Nazarene.
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Their vote was based on positive results from this fall’s Financial Feasibility Study (FFS). You may recall that our outside stewardship consultants had extensive conversations with 75 households several weeks ago about the swap/purchase. Based on those conversations, including estimates of what the households would consider donating, the consultants concluded that our congregation is primed to raise as much as $4 million to purchase LCN, make it JUC-ready, and begin the first phase of renovations. “The entire board was excited to see the energy, enthusiasm, and commitment of the congregation reflected in the feasibility report,” says Board President Paula Reed. “We are also taking into account the hopes, dreams, and concerns expressed there.”   

The Capital Campaign co-chairs, Dea Brayden and Carol Wilsey, are gathering a team to begin a two-phase campaign after the holidays.  ​

Major Milestones
We’ll start with the Foundation phase, which will reach out to members and friends who plan to give $10K or more over three years. (If you are in that category and don’t think we realize that, please contact Dea Brayden, so you can be included.) The Foundation phase will be January and February.

On Saturday, February 29, we’ll LEAP into the larger campaign for the full congregation. That will include a celebratory kickoff event for everyone on Leap Day. (Can’t let that extra day go to waste!!) This phase of stewardship visits and pledges will last from March through April.  

And THEN, after we add up all our generous pledges, the Board will schedule a congregational vote sometime between mid-May and mid-June so we can decide if we’re moving ahead with the church swap/purchase.   

Additional Tidbits

• We’ll continue working on what our operations and maintenance budget would be at the new property.  
• If the congregation approves the move, we’d schedule the closing and would hope to start packing and moving in mid-late summer.  
• Only after a congregational vote would our architects get down to brass tacks on renovation plans. They’re on hold until we take that vote.  
• We’ll schedule forums for feedback and input on the possible move, and always welcome individual conversations with Board members, Posse members, and Capital Campaign folks.

​To keep everyone in the loop, we’ll be writing frequent updates on the capital campaign which will be emailed to members and friends and posted on the Making Room webpage.