Remember and Imagine

Welcome

Welcome to the Remember and Imagine Weblog. Here is the place for you to share with others what you remember about First Methodist Church, and what you imagine for its future. Your thoughts can be about the church and its people, about your own memories, or about your dreams for what we'll find in the future.

To post a memory of the past or a vision for the future, click on the Comments link. You will go to a screen where you can write your thoughts. These comments will go to the weblog moderator, who will then post them on the main page. No comments will appear until the moderator has released them.

You need not fill out any of the information blanks on the screen unless you wish to do so. "Trackbacks" are links to other blogs that refer to a post, and are not being used here.

As you share your recollections and dreams, we especially hope you will look to the future of our church.  What generations to come will remember depends to a large extent on what we imagine today.

First United Methodist Church, Bloomington

Remember: The Fire at FUMC

As I recall, the fire occurred during the school day, probably in the morning. I was in the old Bloomington High School, located then in Seminary Square at the corner of Walnut and Second Street. The flames and smoke were visible from there.

My sister was at Elm Heights School in the bathroom. Her teacher came in to tell her that her church was on fire.

A bazaar had been held in the church the previous day, and I recall speculation that something had been left smoldering after that event. I'm not sure whether that was ever proven.

During the summer of 1937, church services were held at Alumni Hall at the IU Union Building. The choir, which included me, sat on the stage, and Mrs. George Henley, our church organist, played a grand piano. I'm not sure where Sunday School classes were held.

In the fall of 1937, our family moved to Terre Haute and began to find a church home there. Whenever we attended a new church, I couldn't help thinking about the FUMC and all its needs. The fire had a tremendous emotional impact on me for a long time.

I think John Hoadley, the father of Jack Hoadley, who attends our church now, was one of the church leaders who immediately began plainning the rebuilding of FUMC. Since we left town before this began, I do not know much about how that was accomplished. The lighted cross on the dome, a part of the old church, became a part of the new church, at the request of many.

                                                           -Stella V. Tatlock

Imagine: Visions from the Stewardship Task Force

• At least one single service once every month where the whole family can worship together at the same time. What I mean is, at that time there is nothing else going on in the facility - no Sunday School, no Wesley Conventicle, or Youth Group etc at that time.
• The church to be more involved with spiritual growth of each and every member and help every member deepen their relationship with our Lord.
• This church has a lot of resources that can be used to reach out more for the welfare of children in our community, especially for the less fortunate children. Children are our wealth and our future.
• A debt free FUMC
• An FUMC operating endowment
• A multi-purpose youth center/child care center on renovated property (Post Office)
• An active membership of 2010 by 2010

Remember: Our Life at FUMC

Being warmly greeted by Ross (Marrs) as soon as we first attended worship and Ross was available to everyone

Potluck dinners where we first began to meet people

Coffee and Conversation where different people came in and talked about their work and how it related directly to being a Christian or how it had positive impacts in a variety of ways.  Some of these  people were from our church, other churches, the community, and IU.

George Davis who came as the Associate Minister........he was very active in getting young adults involved in the church...... he was one of us

Interact........it was a Sunday School class where we shared leadership and discussed topics that we were concerned about and how the church and more importantly those in the class might take action

Pairs and Spared........this was a social events gathering that had something once a month......the first thing we attended was a hayride in October and it was great fun and also we met some new people

Trustees......I served on this committee off and on for over thirty years

Stratigic Planning Committee.........I am on this committe presently

Pastor Parish......Connie has been on this committee

Lay Leadership...Connie has been on this committee

We both feel that being on important committees has brought us closer to the life of the church....there  develops a deeper commitment to the purpose of the church and at the same time an awareness of where the church is going/should go in an ever changing environment

                                              -Harv and Connie Hegarty

Columbarium & Memory Garden

My vision of the future is a completed Columbarium and Memory Garden as presented in the architect's drawing, and I hope it occurs in my lifetime. -    Dot Quillman

Great Vision

I imagine a church alive with a vision of God's future in Bloomington. I imagine a church that proclaims the good news in word and deed. I imagine a church claiming its Wesleyan heritage. John Meunier

My Hope for the Future

My hope for the future of this church is from Colossians 1:23.

"... continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News of the Gospel..."

Ginia Crank

Memories of FUMC

I remember rolling out of bed in college and walking down Kirkwood in the early morning sunshine (at 10:45am - I can't believe that was early for me then) to come to church at FUMC with my girlfriends.  I remember getting married at FUMC, all our family and friends gathered on the steps to send us off on a spectacular Saturday afternoon in late April.  We went away after that, but eventually came back.  Now I need FUMC to be a church for my family - a warm, universally inviting service that blends the traditional and contemporary.  A service in which I feel connected to the music and ritual I grew up with, and where my children can feel comfortable dancing in the aisles and also regularly hear brass and choral descants.  A place that is known in our community for loving people, liberal theology, thoughtful but fervent public service and explicitly open policies. Now that's a church I want to be associated with.

Unknown

FUMC's Devotion to Aiding the Needy

My grandfather Bob Crawford used to about the devotion FUMC Bloomington had to aiding those in need.  My first introduction came when he brought me over years ago to make sandwiches in Shalom's kitchen.  I wished at the time that I was not visiting from NJ but instead could come back week after week. I found away to do meals in NJ and when I finally moved to IN I found another within this church.

Christy Santo

My Dream for Our Church

Even though my background is Presbyterian, I have been privileged to be close to many Methodists over the years. My husband Don started out life as a Methodist and my best friends in high school were and still are Methodist. The one unifying thing I noticed about these active Methodists, was a strong Christian witness to all around them. My high school friends are still on the east coast, but we frequently see each other and share our faith. Their deep faith in Jesus Christ as savior was a strong influence in my life as well as my experience in my own church.

Don and I were with his mother as she was dying. We could not get her to respond until I reminded her that she was not alone because Jesus was with her. She then at that point took her last breath proclaiming, "Jesus!"

This was the kind of witness and powerful faith that John Wesley the evangelist and founder of this denomination proclaimed and spread wherever he spoke. As we now benefit from this heritage, may we each try to continue this great work that was started by John Wesley. This is my dream for this church.

Ginia Crank