University Avenue Church of Christ

UA and providence partnership agreement

October 27, 2022

Earlier this year the UA Elders announced that they were entering into partnership discussions with Providence church leadership. Many of you know that Providence currently meets in the UA Sanctuary on Sunday afternoons. The UA Elders are pleased to announce that they have unanimously approved a Partnership agreement with Providence Church.

We believe this agreement provides a long-term opportunity for God’s kingdom to flourish on the corner of University Avenue and MLK.

What this means for the University Avenue Church going forward:

Providence will move to a morning worship in the UA Sanctuary at 10:30. UA will continue to meet and worship on Sunday mornings in the LFC Campus Center at 10:30.

This will provide the opportunity for UA kids and youth to have access to Providence children’s and youth ministries, including on Sunday morning.

Providence ministers and staff will office at UA. Plans are underway to configure the third floor to support Providence ministers and staff work areas.

Providence will participate in and support UA ministries such as All God’s Children and Longhorns for Christ.

UA members can visit Providence small groups.

Women’s ministries can work/study together if they choose.

Providence ministers can preach at UA services and UA ministers can speak at Providence services.

Shared costs for the duration of the agreement.

What to expect over the next two months:

On December 4th, UA will worship in the Sanctuary with no musical instruments. Providence will worship in the afternoon as usual.
On December 11th, Providence and UA will worship together in the Sanctuary on Sunday morning.
On December 18th, UA will worship in the Campus Center at 10:30 and Providence will worship in the sanctuary at 10:30

The partnership will be implemented in phases:

Phase 1 (Commences on December 11): Providence begins worshiping on Sunday mornings in the Sanctuary at 10:30 am. UA worships on Sunday mornings in the LFC campus center at the same time as Providence. UA will continue to have an adult bible class at 9:30am.
Phase 2 (Commences when construction is complete on the new office space or six months after construction begins): Providence moves their staff into UA offices on the third floor of the UA building.

Questions:

What about parking?
The agreement states that UA members will have the parking area between the buildings dedicated to them for Sunday morning services.
Are we merging with Providence Church?
No, we will be two churches operating in the same facilities. As we stated in our announcement regarding partnership talks, this agreement is for a partnership; a merger/blend might or might not occur in the future. The partnership agreement does address the possibility of a merger happening in the future, but a merger would only occur after a UA congregational vote and approval. Additionally, the ability to pursue a merger/blend is completely unilateral. It would be decided by the UA eldership and congregation.
How will our worship service be impacted?
We will simply be moving to an area more conducive to worship for the current size of our congregation. The LFC Campus Center has better space and technology for our worship needs.
Can UA members read the partnership agreement?
Yes, it will be uploaded to the UA website and will be password protected for our members to access.

In conclusion, we believe this Partnership provides the best way forward for the UA congregation and our brothers and sisters at Providence church.

If you have any questions, please contact one of your elders.

Ronnie Brooks

Matt Dufner

Shane Eyer

Dan Munger

Michael Sutton

Gary Thornton

Click to access full agreement

Announcements and resources Below

UA Elders Announcement - July 24th, 2022

After Dr. Carson Reed was invited to analyze our church's challenges, the UA elders created two vision teams to come up with proposals regarding the future of our church. The UA Vision Team came to the elders with three proposals called: the Unify Proposal, the Repurpose Proposal, and the Partner Proposal. After months of discernment and prayer, the UA elders have decided to begin discussions with Providence church leadership in establishing a partnership between the UA Church of Christ and Providence Church.

This decision does not mean we will be merging with Providence Church at this time. This decision means that we will begin formal conversations with Providence Church to iron out the details of a partnership. This partnership could include the following components:

1) Shared cost

2) Shared office space

3) Shared ministry opportunities

4) Shared use of the UA building

Practically speaking, this partnership could entail the following changes:

1) Providence increases the payments they make to UA

2) Providence staff moves their offices and ministers to work on our campus

3) Providence's youth and children's ministries could be available to any members or visitors of UA

4) Providence services and UA services would both meet on Sunday morning. These discussions would include addressing the best way to meet the needs of both churches and their worship services.

The elders want to reiterate a couple of points so that we're not misunderstood.

A) The UA church is not dissolving, handing over the building, or giving our finances to Providence Church.

B) We are not discarding the Unify, or Repurpose Proposals, or other suggestions provided by UA members. There are aspects of these proposals that we'd like to explore and implement.

C) A merger is a possibility in the future. It may happen; it may not. The end goal of this decision is a healthy partnership.

We believe that this partnership is the best decision for the Kingdom of God on this corner.

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Below you'll find the resources related to the UA Vision process that was discussed in our Sunday morning classes. Make sure to click on the RESOURCES item in the lower left of each media post below. That is where you'll find the documents referenced in the class.

Since it's a very important part of the discussion, here is THE KAIROS REPORT we talked about. (Click on red text to access.)

Please make use of the QUESTIONS FOR ELDERS AND MINISTERS form page to submit your feedback as you see fit. (Click on red text to access.)

Finally, you can view PDF files of all three proposals here.

For Proposal 1 - Unify, click here: Proposal_1_-_Unify.pdf

For Proposal 2 - Repurpose, click here: Proposal_2_-_Repurpose.pdf

For Proposal 3 - Partner, click here: Proposal_3_-_Partner.pdf

Resources