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New Ministry Center Shines
Like a Beacon on a Hill
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The vision of the Hilltop Ministry Center began with the generous donation of 20 acres of undeveloped farm land to the Northern Illinois Conference from Bill and Joyce Russ. The Russ family had once cultivated soybean crops on this land. The Northern Illinois Conference under the leadership of Congregational Development Director,
Reverand Martin Lee was able to acquire an additional 10 acres of land. Roscoe UMC knew of plans to turn much of the surrounding land into new single family housing subdivisions and decided to build not only a house of worship but a community center right in the middle of new residential development. Roscoe UMC Senior Pastor,
Reverand Jay Carr explained the concept of the ministry center as both a church and community center, “Everyone needs a third place,” said Rev. Carr “People have home, and work places where they belong, but they need a third place to hang out, to connect. We wanted this center to be that third place.”
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Lisa Abb, staff member at Roscoe UMC who has acted as project manager for the ministry center development and who found a call to ministry in the process described how Roscoe UMC volunteers gathered information by sending teams of people out to knock on doors of new homes in the neighborhood to gather input about what kinds of services and activities people would like at the center. Consequently the center now houses a state of the art day care facility for 150 children, offices of the Harlem Community Center (Park District) and offers many recreational classes from pilates for adults to tumbling for kids, with adjacent land for soccer and baseball fields. The center also has offices for pastoral counselors and counselors from the Beloit Memorial Hospital. The facility also has a coffee shop, “Holy Grounds” just inside the building’s entrance, with wireless internet capability and a video wall for announcements of many classes and activities at the center. “We found out that Starbucks is that third place for many people,” said Rev. Carr and “we wanted to provide good coffee at lower prices than those guys.” The recreation center and hospital pay rent for their space, which subsidizes 60 percent of the operating costs of the building, but they signed their leases with the understanding, said Rev. Carr that they are “co-partners in ministry.” The heart of the building is a large multi-purpose room that can be used for basketball, youth and children’s events, banquets and also serve as a sanctuary for worship. Nearly 65 people have been worshipping there on Sunday morning for the past month since the center opened.
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Rev. Carr acknowledged that many people are growing up without any church experience and would find the idea of walking into an established church building intimidating. “We wanted to create a place where people would feel comfortable coming,” he said and “we think we have done that.”
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“This building was built with a lot of prayer,” observed District Superintendent
Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng. People were invited to write prayers on wooden studs and cement floors during construction of the ministry center. Within the walls of the building are not only hopes and dreams of many for years of vibrant ministry, but the written prayers of many people as well. This building is also a reality today, said Superintendent Jueng, “because people said yes.” The Russ family said “yes” use our land for ministry, the congregation of Roscoe UMC said “yes, I will help” in ministry and they followed up by painting, cleaning, hammering, walking the neighborhood knocking on doors, and helping with outdoor cookouts.
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At this time, Perryville Road – a new street developed for growing subdivisions and business districts is being extended right past the Hilltop Ministry Center property. There is still unlimited potential when the road is extended and even more residential areas are developed. “We are planning a grand opening in the spring,” say Rev. Carr, “when the road is open and there is more access to this building from all directions.” But in the meantime, the center is open and thriving with evident joy on the faces of all who have worked so hard to turn this dream into bricks, mortar and a thriving, new “third place.”
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