ORLAND PARK AND OAK FOREST, IL - Members of Orland Park UMC and Pathway UMC – Oak Forest voted in June, 2008 to merge as one church: Faith UMC. This is now a combined congregation with West and East campuses, respectively.

The new congregation of Faith UMC held their first joint worship service in October with nearly 200 people from both congregations in attendance. The worship service was presided over by West and East Campus Pastors, Rev. Ted Jones and Rev. Bob Haight, and combined choirs sang. Aurora District Superintendent, Rev. Diana Facemyer celebrated communion along with the pastors and met with combined church leadership after the service. The service took place the Orland Park Calvary Reformed Church, a building which Faith UMC hopes to occupy by the Spring, 2010.

The word merger strikes fear into the hearts of many people, in business and in church. But for members of these two churches, the idea of merger seems to be anticipated with joy and excitement.

“Both congregations wanted to reach more people in the community,” says Superintendent Facemyer – "they came together to for the next generation of United Methodists.”

Rev. Bob Haight explains what was behind the merger. Orland Park UMC needed more space – a larger building, Pathway UMC was faced with an aging and shrinking congregation. The churches jointly spent a number of years exploring what they might be able to do together. Tinley Park UMC was also part of the merger discussions, but voted not to be part of the merger.

“Our District Superintendents are viewing this as a new church start,” says East Campus Pastor, Rev. Haight. “We have been exploring how we want to build a new congregation, with new DNA.” The churches have joined forces for administrative committees, and are beginning to move into joint programming for fellowship, missions and outreach.

“This effort has taken a lot of meetings and a lot of communication,” says Cliff Eade, Lay Leader of the East Campus. “There were people who were not thrilled at leaving their church building,” Eade admits, “but we have told our seniors – we don’t want to lose you, we will come and pick you up!”

Both buildings of the former churches are for sale. The Calvary Reformed Church Building located in Orland Park became available in a reasonable location for both churches. Negotiations are in the works to obtain this building for Faith UMC. This building offers a much larger sanctuary, recreational facilities for youth, lots of space for educational and other programming and a generous parking lot, all features that will benefit community outreach and congregational growth. Until the real estate transactions are completed, both West and East campuses continue to meet in their respective buildings.

“The enthusiasm of our people is excellent,” says Lay Leader Eade, “It is also amazing to see how well our congregations are getting along.” Noting how many details of the combining of the congregations have already been worked out, Eade says, “I believe our efforts have been God driven.”