Stewardship Stories

An Event in the Early Life of RUC
Lee and Ken F.

For a variety of reasons (that is another longer story), in 1967 Faith United Church of Christ and St. Andrews Presbyterian Church began to worship together. Their two pastors, Donald Maccallum, and Wiley Prugh, respectively worked together to forge a larger congregation that could have one minister focus on pastoral ministry, and the other developing and building a community ministry.

This effort proved successful and the two congregations moved to formally merge into Rockville United Church. However, approval of the merger required notification and approval of the Presbytery and the Conference as well as the creation of a plan to use the second church building (Faith UCC) for community ministry and/or income to support the new merged church. These efforts took considerable prayer, thought, and legal effort.

In 1968, we moved from South Burlington, Vermont where we had lived and worshiped at the College Street Congregational Church for several years. So, naturally, we sought out a UCC church. At that time, UCC churches were few in number and far from Derwood. One Sunday, we ventured to Faith UCC to attend worship. We arrived early, found the building locked, waited a few minutes, and when no one came, we left in some confusion.

Some months later, we discovered in the Montgomery County Sentinel or the Gazette that Rockville United Church had started a community ministry. The article mentioned the fact that the Faith and St Andrews congregations had been worshiping together for 2-3 years. So we decided to check out RUC one Sunday.

When we arrived, the parking lot was full; many persons were standing around talking and entering the narthex doors. A few persons spoke to us and invited us to join what they described as a truly mission oriented friendly community church. We were encouraged and moved to the entryway.

At this point, a greeter (who will remain anonymous) welcomed us and said, “Are you Presbyterian or UCC? We responded, “UCC”. He jerked his finger over his back and said, “Okay, you folks go downstairs”. We noticed that the sanctuary was pretty full, but were so surprised by his welcoming remarks that we hastened downstairs, unsure of what in heaven’s name was going on. (I did identify the fire exits, just in case).

What was going on downstairs was not a worship service, but a congregational meeting. A similar meeting was going on upstairs with the St. Andrews congregation. The joint worship service took place a few minutes later.

What we had stumbled into unknowingly was the meeting of the two congregations separately to formally vote on merging and subsequently meeting together that day (upstairs of course) to formally vote together to approve the merger and create RUC.

Such was the introduction we had to RUC. Now its 38 years later, and we can’t go downstairs without telling each other or the old members of Faith United Church of Christ, “Okay UCCers downstairs, Presbyterians upstairs”.

Lee & Ken F

What Does RUC and Faith Mean to Me?
Carol B.

Good morning'

Zara asked me if I would share a Stewardship faith story and thoughts about what
RUC and faith means to me I would rather talk about my grandchildren or stories about growing up on a farm on the Prairie of South Dakota But then, that in itself is a faith story.
That was the beginning. My faith was passed on to me by my parents. My parent’s faith, their church, a Presbyterian Church my father had helped build, hard work, love of God. family,neighbors and those in need of care or assistance were what I grew up with. It was a lesson of faith, work and love that I have always carried with me.

Now - fast forward to RUC - Nate and I were members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church prior to its merger with Faith United Church of Christ resulting in the birth of Rockville United Church. Merging two churches was exciting and challenging as we moved forward in this new adventure of ecumenical union and community ministry This merger required an enormous amount of work from the membership but Nate and I enthusiastically joined the other members on Committees as Eiders on work parties, and as CE teachers Pastoral Care became a main focus of my ministry and making sure we didn't lose sight of the needs of our own membership as we reached beyond our congregation with helpful ministries to the community My faith has grown at RUC and continues to grow - I am proud to have been a member of RUC for over 40 years; it is a church I am proud of and want to continue to support financially and with energy that I admit, is getting weaker, but still capable!

Nate was brought up in an Evangelical Lutheran Church In fact his father was a Lutheran Pastor. I always told Nate that his mother resented that I had taken him away from the Lutheran church Though he protested this was not the case She always told me I was such a hard worker and had so much energy When she was in her 90’s and suffering from dementia she did not know any of us We went to Oregon for a visit and she was pleasant and told me the nice young man from the church (pointing at Nate) visited her frequently. I told her she looked well and happy and she smiled and thanked me. Then she said, “and how about you, do you still work and have so much energy?” Here – for a fleeting moment – was recognition as I said “well, yes, I think I do” and she said “My – and to think you are Presbyterian.”

Well, in spite of my Presbyterianism, through faith and love of God, I continued to use my gift of energy and worked to make RUC a caring and faithful church, that others may also experience the joy and benefit of this community of faith. The 2nd Chapter of James, verse 14, says “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?” We have worked for the church and supported it financially, not because we had to but because we wanted to for our own personal growth as Christians and our call to serve human needs. I believe we get out of the church, by far, more than what we put into the church and if we choose to do nothing, we probably will feel like we get nothing in return.

We are grateful for our many blessings and the faith that has sustained us. RUC has provided me and my family with far more than what we have given. As we prayerfully consider our stewardship for the coming year another exciting time awaits RUC with the Call of a new Pastor. We can all be a part of that new beginning and share in the work and financial needs of RUC as we consider our time, talent and treasure for 2007. Our budget is large but our blessings are even larger.

God’s love and grace will be with us as we face this challenge together.

STEWARDSHIP: The act of managing affairs. In the case of Rockville United Church, the world that God has given into our care.

GENEROSITY: The trait of being willing to give your time or your money unselfishly.

There's a lot that can be said about generosity—giving unselfishly without thinking about rewards, just giving out of gratitude, just giving for love.

You are all familiar with O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi”in which a young couple “Della and Jim”both give up his/her most prized possession. She sells her hair to buy him a watch fob for his father’s watch. Jim sells his watch to buy combs for her hair.

To me, this fictional story exemplifies the true meaning of giving generously—not for rewards but for love freely given.

While the gift of Christ’s unconditional love for us cannot be measured in dollars and cents, we can show our gratitude and appreciation for his love by giving our time, our talents and our treasure to help carry the message of His love not only to the community of Rockville United Church, but also the wider community of the world as we know it.

Funds are needed to feed hungry people in Rockville, in Montgomery County, in Washington, D.C., in our nation and all over the world. We have been given so much abundance, it behooves us to share more with those less fortunate. Those who need food, shelter, clothing, medical help and all the material things that go into relieving human suffering.

Resources are necessary to work for justice and peace and dignity for all people.

While our gifts can never compare with Christ’s gift of all encompassing love, let us all show our gratitude by our unselfish, generous giving.

In closing, I quote from Deuteronomy 15: 7-8. “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns with the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly, lending enough to meet the need, whatever it might be.”And also from Matthew 24:33, “truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Ellie J.
Charter Member of Rockville United Church
Attending since 1959