Southern Valley Cooperative Parish

Churches of the Southern Valley Cooperative Parish

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New Paltz UMC

Sundays 9:45am
In-Person, Zoom, FB Live
1 Grove Street
New Paltz, NY 12561
(845) 255-5210

Parish Events

Our Future in the Parish: Some thoughts…
By Linda Mellor
September 2024

Can you name at least one person in each of the 11 other churches in our Cooperative Parish that you know or have connected with in some way in the past year?  Fellowship, ministry, and worship with others across our Parish is not simply another “nice thing to do”, but may become vital to the survival of our United Methodist Church presence here in the Hudson Valley, and possibly to our very own survival in New Paltz. 

The Parish Council met last April to discuss the futures of our Parish.  Angela Redman from NYAC presented enlightening information and sparked some hard conversations about the current reality of our Parish churches and their inability to remain sustainable either now or into the very near future.  Every church within our Parish is struggling financially, dealing with poor attendance, and finding it difficult or impossible to provide important ministries to their church and local communities, much less be able to step into areas of outreach and social justice on a larger scale.  How can we be God’s hands and feet and truly live into our hearts of Love if we are consumed with trying to figure out how to keep the lights on and provide heat for our buildings?   This led to thinking about some exciting possibilities for our future.

One proposal that was presented was what if we were to change the entire structure of the churches across our Parish?  To not consider ourselves as 12 individual churches that loosely and sporadically offer an occasional worship service, book study, or ministry service as just a nice thing to do in another level of our UMC connectionalism, but to seriously become more integrated into a more cohesive and functioning church body.  To begin to think of ourselves as ONE church, ONE congregation, ONE supporting and sustaining family.

Instead of 12 churches each one trying to hold a Sunday morning church service for a handful of people with limited pastoral and music capabilities, what if we were to combine our worship into 2 or 3 locations across the Parish?  Would you be willing to worship somewhere else if it meant there were more than a dozen people in the pews, the opportunity to have a full choir, inspirational music (even a contemporary band?!), more extensive and solid tech on Zoom or Facebook Live, air conditioning in the summer (oh, right, we did do that one this summer!).   That might not mean we give up any form of worship in our church, but might free us up to something new and exciting and different that is not on a Sunday morning or feeds hungering souls in a different way. 

Instead of 12 churches each one trying to convince a handful of very overworked and exhausted people to stretch a little more to put energy and effort into a ministry that is of critical necessity to their community, what if we were to create ministry “hubs” at different locations?  Identifying those vital ministries and having a much larger church body to engage in to build, staff, and maintain amazing and exciting ways to serve others.  Would you be willing to travel a few minutes further to participate in an effort that truly tugged on your heart and felt like it was what God is calling you to do?   Or have a larger creative group of people to work together to dream up ministries that might not require a physical presence, but can be done remotely from your home? 

So much to think about, to talk about, to dream about, to envision.  So many ways we can open ourselves up to new changes and possibilities.  A perfect time to listen to how God really loves us and cares for us, and wants to work in our lives in ways that are deep and meaningful to us and to those we love and care for. A chance to reinvigorate our souls, and renew our spirits and our purpose for being.

How will all this shape up and come to pass? That is up to each one of us to help make happen.  It starts with hard and deep conversations. The Parish is looking for a group of interested people to prayerfully and seriously consider moves into the future for the Parish, whether they be something like the proposal above or another idea entirely.  At our last NPUMC Administrative Council, we also started discussions within our own church.  We will be holding a meeting soon to dive into this deeper.  Would you like to be part of one or both of these conversations?  This is YOUR church.  Let us make it what you want it to be and what God is calling us to be.

Finally, next time you see a flyer or see something in our weekly Announcements, not only are you invited, but implored to participate in Parish events, ministry efforts, and worship services.  Fostering these relationships with people across these 12 churches is far beyond simply just a “nice thing to do”, but is critically important to our future sustainability.

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Pastors of the Southern Valley Cooperative Parish

Zintack Albert Hahn

Parish Coordinator

Serving: Milton-Marlboro UMC; Memorial UMC, Modena; First UMC of Highland

Limina Grace Harmon

Serving: New Paltz UMC; First UMC of Highland

Gail Erdie

Serving: Lloyd UMC; Town of Esopus UMC; First UMC of Highland

George A. Hart

Serving: Plutarch UMC; First UMC of Highland

Pastor Interviews

Our pastors were asked to respond to a series of questions. Get to know them better through these short videos:

What is a Cooperative Parish?

Local churches, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may enhance their witness to one another and to the world by showing forth the love of Jesus Christ through forms of mutual cooperation.

Paragraph 206 of the 2016 Book of Discipline

A cooperative ministry is when groups of people representing two or more churches share their ministries to meet the needs of the community.

A cooperative parish is an ongoing structured way to employ cooperative ministries between churches within a defined region.

The cooperative parish will have a Parish Council with clergy and laity from each church in the cooperative parish to discuss, plan and make decisions regarding mission and
ministry through the cooperative parish. There are several forms of cooperative parishes. We are engaged in a Multiple Charge Parish where every church in the Cooperative Parish maintains their local church identity and participates in the Cooperative Parish Council for shared mission and ministry. In a Multiple Charge Parish, clergy are appointed to the Cooperative Parish and assigned to a local church(es) and their communities.

The Cooperative Parish provides the opportunity for all churches
to engage in ministry together that which they cannot do alone.

Many churches do not have the people or resources to organize a church missions event, confirmation retreat or regular outreach activities on their own. However, these mission and ministry opportunities are possible in a cooperative parish. Cooperative Parishes also offer the laity to have access to different and new ministry opportunities, experience the gifts and leadership of other clergy and laity across the parish, and use their gifts and calling in new contexts and settings across the parish. Through cooperative Parishes, the laity can be empowered and equipped to live into their unique ministries.


Cooperative Parishes are a Wesleyan model of our connection to expand our church’s ministry to the communities, using our churches and our parish ministries as the center of transformative possibility to all the people in the parish.

Southern Valley Cooperative Parish Council

Albert Hahn, Milton-Marlboro, ModenaLimina Grace Harmon, New PaltzGeorge Hart, Plutarch, HighlandGail Erdie, Lloyd, EsopusLaura Corbett, Plutarch
Eileen Daunt, ModenaDeb Dressel, PlutarchKaren Garner, EsopusJohn Hopper, Milton-MarlboroMargaret Howe, New Paltz
Ed Mackey, Milton-MarlboroLinda Mellor, New PaltzLinda Mesuda, PlutarchPam Pardee, LloydStephanie Parsons, New Paltz
Jane Ruback, New PaltzKaren Seyfert, New PaltzSuzanne Smith-Ramos, Milton-MarlboroBarbara Terpening, ModenaJoseph Watson, Modena
David Winters, Milton-Marlboro

A Parish Council is a body of active clergy appointed to the churches and charges in the Cooperative Parish and lay persons from each church and charge in a Cooperative Parish. The role of the Parish Council is critical to the life of the Cooperative Parish. Through the building of relationships, discovery and mutual sharing of gifts, expertise and skills, the Parish Council envisions, directs and implements the mission and ministry of the Cooperative Parish to meet the needs of all people in the communities of the Cooperative Parish and invites all people into a relationship with Jesus Christ through the Gospel message of hope, love and grace. The Parish Council will align the Cooperative Parish with the Mission, Vision and Core Values of the New York Annual Conference.

Resources

From the New York Annual Conference web site:

NYAC Cooperative Parishes: One Body, One Spirit, One Hope (Narrative)
Learn why Cooperative Parishes are a new model of ministry for your church, your community and the New York Annual Conference.

Cooperative Parish FAQs
Read answers to some of the frequently asked questions received about Cooperative Parishes.

Cooperative Parish Roles and Responsibilities
Learn about the different roles and responsibilities in the Cooperative Parish.

Responsibilities of Lay Members on Cooperative Parish Councils
Understand the responsibilities of the Lay Member to Parish Council.

NYAC Cooperative Parishes: One Body, One Spirit, One Hope (Bulletin Insert)
Use this bulletin insert to share about Cooperative Parishes with the congregation.

NYAC Cooperative Parishes: Restoring and Resetting for the Journey…
Use this PowerPoint Presentation to share how Cooperative Parishes are a process of resetting and aligning churches for mission and ministry.