At the Annual Meeting of the Congregation of MCC Hartford on November 15th, concerns were raised about rent (we are in the 3rd year of our 5 year lease with the Church of the Good Shepherd, and our $1400 a month rent will rise to $1500 in June) – the question was raised regarding what we get for our money, and whether we shouldn’t rather be thinking about and planning toward the eventual purchase of a building of our own.
There are several things I consider true about our space:
It is true that rent is significant expense—but we should also remember that utilities are included, as is the maintenance of the parking lot and approaches to the building. In another space, or if we owned our own place, all these would be costs to us.
We pay about $5.60 per square foot for a space that includes our ample worship and fellowship areas, two offices, a kitchen, the library, and two restrooms. For this we have access 24-7, and the opportunity to rent or lend the space to community groups and individuals. Other commercial real estate in Hartford rents for as much as $15 to $18 per foot. In another location we could not afford nearly as much space as we have here.
Our space is genuinely beautiful, warm, and welcoming. Visitors comment on its spiritual and esthetic qualities. That is not an accident. We have invested many hours and some $40,000 worth of paid, donated, and volunteer labor in this place to bring out and enhance its native qualities and to make it our own.
We are friends with our landlords. We share weekly worship and bible study together, as well as joint special services through the year. We support each other’s mission and outreach projects, and enjoy each other’s fellowship. It is a rare privilege for any congregation to be received by another as equals, and even rarer for an MCC.
When we moved here from the old Community Center we intended to find a space that would serve us and accommodate our growth for at least 15 years. I believe this place will do that.
Does our space have limitations and inconveniences? Absolutely. And so would any other space we could afford.
I have also witnessed how the burdens and obligations of property ownership and building maintenance can sometime consume congregations to the point that their entire mission and purpose is reduced to the mechanics and fund-raising of keeping the PLACE going. That is not the future I hope for for MCC Hartford.
We are committed to the goal of growing the church in spirit, in numbers, in witness, and in love. I believe that this place remains the best location for now for us to work on that growth. I don’t believe that our growth yet is such that we could realistically take on buying or building. That time will come. But as it comes, I hope we will also continue to have prayer and conversation around all the ways to BE church, and to remember that, as the song says, “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is the people!”
