Vienna Baptist Church has moved in with a nearby United Church of Christ congregation after selling its Northern Virginia property to a Chinese Presbyterian fellowship earlier this month.
Affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches in the USA and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, Vienna Baptist pivoted to its new home at Emmaus UCC after a nearly two-year discernment process resulting from years of declining attendance and rising maintenance costs.
“We felt this was the best use of our resources and the best use of our former property, which we are thankful will be used at a greater capacity by a church that will fill those classrooms and fully utilize its other spaces,” Vienna Baptist Pastor Austin Almaguer said.
Previous Sanctuary of Vienna Baptist Church
“Knowing Chinese Christian Church would be coming in gave our people, our visioning team and myself a kind of peace around the decision to make this move. We are very excited that this (Presbyterian Church in America) congregation will be in there using the property for ministry.”
But the move to Emmaus UCC also presents expanded ministry opportunities for both congregations, Almaguer added.
“One of the main factors that drove the congregation to explore and invest in the partnership with Emmaus was our churches have such shared theological perspectives and shared commitments. Both congregations could see themselves working together and seeing this as something more than just renters and tenants.”
Kristen McBrayer
Ideas already under consideration include joint worship and youth gatherings, combined summer camp programs and cooperative social justice ministries.
Almaguer added its possible he and Emmaus Senior Minister Kristen McBrayer may provide pulpit supply for each other when needed.
“In the Bible, a covenant is a relationship between two partners who make binding promises to each other and work together to reach a common goal,” McBrayer said. “Emmaus and Vienna Baptist are choosing to enter into a formal relationship of mutual commitment, mutual trust and mutual support so that together we can reach our common goal of thriving futures for both churches.”
Vienna Baptist moved out of its longtime location Oct. 20 and celebrated a joint “Covenant Sunday” with Emmaus UCC Oct. 26. The 4.48-acre site — including a 500-seat sanctuary, classroom and education building constructed in phases beginning in 1957 — sold for about $7.3 million.
Most of Vienna Baptist’s roughly 50 regulars made the move and have kept coming since the congregation started its own worship services at Emmaus UCC Nov. 2, Almaguer added. Emmaus holds Sunday worship at 10 a.m. followed by the Baptist service at 11:30 a.m.
Almaguer
“Certainly, some folks did not make the transition, but Sunday morning averages since we began holding our services there look similar to before the move,” Almaguer said.
And much of the credit for that goes to the visioning team that worked diligently to keep church members up to speed on every step of the process of selling and moving the church, he said. “They prevented a giant fracture in the community through intentional relationship building so folks had a sense we were all doing this together.”
Almaguer urges churches facing similar circumstances to designate such teams and to hire outside consultants and coaches to work through the financial, logistical and emotional challenges of transitioning to new phases of congregational life and ministry.
“So many processes go wrong when there is a failure of communication between the team and the congregation, and when folks are just not paying attention to relationships and to the fact these decisions affect our deep connection with a physical space where we have lived so much of our lives,” he said.
Multiple potlucks and other gatherings with Emmaus UCC helped members of Vienna Baptist move from grief to joy as they found “a hope-filled anticipation of what is next as you become something new, no longer weighted down by a structure, but free to dream,” McBrayer added.
It also helps that Vienna Baptist was able to bring its pulpit Bible, chalice and other liturgical elements with it to the UCC church, which adopted those items as their own, Almaguer explained.
“The Communion table that both Emmaus and Vienna Baptist use on Lord Supper Sundays is the original Communion table from Vienna Baptist. The blending of the symbols of our congregations creates a truly shared space and testifies to the shared life we have together with Emmaus.”
Baptist hymnals even made the move, he added. “I think both churches will use those. Their minister was actually very excited about the hymnals and both congregations will be singing from them when we hold worship together every other month.”
But Almaguer added the move does not mean the two congregations are merging. “We jokingly say in both congregations that we haven’t decided to get married, but we have decided to move in together.”
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