Whittier Nueva Vida Presbyterian Church

Merger Proposal        Fall, 2007

 Purpose

God calls us together!

The purpose of this document is to present to Whittier Presbyterian Church (WPC) & Iglesia Presbiteriana Nueva Vida (NV) the proposal for merger between our two congregations. 

The Session of WPC and Steering Committee of NV have been in dialogue for nearly two years considering merging our two congregations.  The Presbytery of Los Ranchos desires mergers in situations like ours for the ease of administration, as well as the integrity of ministry of churches like ours.  There are other churches in our presbytery and across our denomination which have done such a merger.

WPC and NV have been together for over 11 years in what has been a harmonious relationship.  We have used the same facilities during this time with remarkably few tensions and problems.  We have grown used to each other, made some acquaintances among each other, and found small ways to cooperate in varieties of programs.  The time is now for us to consider this further step, this further growth in ministry, as we serve Jesus Christ in a new form.

The form this merger will take, as has been worked out with our various committees, is that of an administrative merge.  We are not merging our worship services and our Sunday morning schedules will remain the same for the foreseeable future.  Our Session and Steering Committee will merge and they will work out details of the way the church will run its operations, continually seeking input from both congregations.

 Our Vision

There is an image that has made the most sense to the people involved in the discussion as we have talked about this merger.  That image is one of marriage, as though our congregations are entering wedlock.  In a marriage all the details are not worked out before the wedding ceremony.  The couple makes promises that bind them together, where they tell each other they intend to be one unit, to face together all the challenges that come and to rejoice together as well.

            Therefore this proposal will not outline the details of how we will accomplish the activities involved in operating the church.  Some work has been done to consider how we will manage the finances of the united congregation.  The Presbytery of Los Ranchos has administered the finances of Nueva Vida.  That job will be taken over by the new congregation.  The Presbytery has committed to financial support of the new united congregation into the future.  The details will depend upon our ability to finance our ministry together as soon as we can, as well as the finances of the presbytery itself.  This merger proposal is asking us to pledge our intention to work out these financial details in such a way as to benefit our ministry and service to Jesus Christ.

            The same can be said about our educational programming, our care for the buildings and grounds, our staffing and personnel concerns, our evangelism and service to the community.  We do not know the details yet, but we pledge ourselves to work out those details in such a way as to benefit our ministry and service to Jesus Christ.  Pastors Nelson & Alicea have talked about doing some classes together, using bilingual subtitles in a Wednesday Movies class, for example.  We would like to offer youth and young adult programming together.  We would work together at expanding the Sunday School program Nueva Vida has.  We might better do evangelism as a congregation of two languages, yet with a commitment to unity.  Again, few details beyond the commitment to faithfully serve the ministry of Jesus Christ.

We will share responsibility for the buildings and grounds of this church.  We have been cooperating on this part of our life together to varying degrees for several years now.  We will work together to manage the staffing and personnel concerns that are part of operating a church.  Pastor Alicea has specific skills in counseling that can benefit all of us in this area.  Evangelism might be a simpler process for us when we can coordinate our outreach and offer unified programs in both English & Spanish.  We can minister better to those families where the youth are English-speaking and the parents are Spanish-speaking.  The details will be worked out according to our combined understanding of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

Service to the community has been strong points of both WPC and NV.  Our Preschool and Homework House could only benefit from a broader base of leadership, and one that better understands the challenges of our society to Spanish-speaking families.  These two programs have enabled countless children to better access the education system here in Whittier, and our merging of these congregations will enhance that ministry.  Our faithfulness to Jesus Christ will be the underlying factor in working out the details.

The consideration of a new name for the merge congregations has not been addressed at this time.  We desire to act on the merge, then work out the detail of the name of the new congregation while doing ministry, not hold off ministry until a new name can be found.  A committee will be established for this purpose at a later date.

            As stated above this merge will be an administrative merger and anything new that comes in the future will be something that fits who we are and who God calls us to be.  For these reasons we believe we will be more faithful as one congregation in two languages.

 Summary

God calls us together!

Will we be faithful to God in answering this particular call, the call to make one congregation out of two?  That is the question we put to you.  We ask that you pray about this, talk with your brothers and sisters in each congregation and be ready to vote on……….  Should the merge be approved, we hope to celebrate it on Jan. 6, 2008.  That day is Epiphany Sunday, the day the church recognizes the world coming to Jesus.  It is Christmas Sunday for some of the other parts of the Christian Church.  It is a communion Sunday, as well as the first Sunday of the new year.  For all those reasons, what more appropriate Sunday might we celebrate this merger?