Building Update: Big News for Kingstowne
BUILDING UPDATE FROM PASTOR MICHELLE
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Dear Kingstowne friends,
Over the past four months, the Kingstowne Communion leadership team has been working through a multi-step process of discernment and approval regarding the prospect of a permanent space for our ministry in the future; and today, finally, I am able to share the exciting, God-inspired news with all of you.
In early 2023, Virginia Hills Baptist Church and Preschool demolished their original 1959 building, set back on a seven acre property right next to Franconia District Park at 6507 Telegraph Rd, Alexandria, 22310; and began renting and sharing space at Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church while they await the ground-breaking and construction of their new building, made possible by the sale of five out of seven of their acres of land to Brightview Senior Living. Watch this video about Virginia Hills Baptist Church's new building project.
I imagine that you've driven past this property and seen the mounds of dirt, construction, and signs along Telegraph Rd. Brightview Senior Living has already made considerable progress on their construction, and the ground-breaking for Virginia Hills Baptist Church is anticipated around the end of April 2024, with completion expected in the spring of 2025.
While Virginia Hills Baptist Church’s preschool continues to thrive, is and has been for some time a staple within the Kingstowne, Virginia Hills, and Hayfield communities, and continues to grow even in displacement in the Mt. Vernon/Belle View area, their church congregation is an aging one, currently gathering about 20 people on Sundays for worship at their leased location of Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church.
For this reason, and because Virginia Hills has envisioned a new space that would be remarkably outward-facing, shared with, and used by the community, in November 2023, Pastor Bart Purdy and his wife Jeannine Purdy of Virginia Hills Baptist Church reached out to Pastor Michelle Matthews of the Kingstowne Communion, asking if Kingstowne would be interested in forming a partnership over the next 18 months, with the goal of Kingstowne leasing space from and sharing space with Virginia Hills in their new building upon completion in the spring 2025.
In such a partnership, Kingstowne, as a growing congregation of predominantly young families, would be able to match the demographics and meet the spiritual and relational needs of the ever-widening preschool community, while Virginia Hills would be able to intentionally tune-in to and pivot some of their energy toward the new Brightview Senior Living resistants on property, offering spiritual community and care, and building an interdenominational and truly multi-generational spiritual and communal hub at the center of our neighborhood.
Of course, this partnership would also provide the Kingstowne Communion, with the highly-desired, permanent space for Sunday worship and other weekly gatherings; the much-needed storage, stability, consistent visability, and room for growth that our current mobile context cannot provide; and an opportunity to alleviate the toll of mobile ministry on volunteers and staff, remobilizing our most valuable asset - our people - for other crucial mission and ministry.
Our leadership truly believes that this space - this partnership - would give us everything we need to grow, while also ensuring that we remain true to our core values of courageous conversation, creative community, and collaborating for the common good.
The following timeline should give you a picture of the last four months of discernment, and why it was important for us to wait patiently before sharing publicly:
DECEMBER 2023
JANUARY 2024
FEBRUARY 2024
MARCH 2024
We are so excited to share more details with all of you, and we know you will have plenty of questions going forward, so here are a few things we can all immediately look forward to:
Grateful and Excited,
Michelle Matthews
Pastor
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Dear Kingstowne friends,
Over the past four months, the Kingstowne Communion leadership team has been working through a multi-step process of discernment and approval regarding the prospect of a permanent space for our ministry in the future; and today, finally, I am able to share the exciting, God-inspired news with all of you.
In early 2023, Virginia Hills Baptist Church and Preschool demolished their original 1959 building, set back on a seven acre property right next to Franconia District Park at 6507 Telegraph Rd, Alexandria, 22310; and began renting and sharing space at Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church while they await the ground-breaking and construction of their new building, made possible by the sale of five out of seven of their acres of land to Brightview Senior Living. Watch this video about Virginia Hills Baptist Church's new building project.
I imagine that you've driven past this property and seen the mounds of dirt, construction, and signs along Telegraph Rd. Brightview Senior Living has already made considerable progress on their construction, and the ground-breaking for Virginia Hills Baptist Church is anticipated around the end of April 2024, with completion expected in the spring of 2025.
While Virginia Hills Baptist Church’s preschool continues to thrive, is and has been for some time a staple within the Kingstowne, Virginia Hills, and Hayfield communities, and continues to grow even in displacement in the Mt. Vernon/Belle View area, their church congregation is an aging one, currently gathering about 20 people on Sundays for worship at their leased location of Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church.
For this reason, and because Virginia Hills has envisioned a new space that would be remarkably outward-facing, shared with, and used by the community, in November 2023, Pastor Bart Purdy and his wife Jeannine Purdy of Virginia Hills Baptist Church reached out to Pastor Michelle Matthews of the Kingstowne Communion, asking if Kingstowne would be interested in forming a partnership over the next 18 months, with the goal of Kingstowne leasing space from and sharing space with Virginia Hills in their new building upon completion in the spring 2025.
In such a partnership, Kingstowne, as a growing congregation of predominantly young families, would be able to match the demographics and meet the spiritual and relational needs of the ever-widening preschool community, while Virginia Hills would be able to intentionally tune-in to and pivot some of their energy toward the new Brightview Senior Living resistants on property, offering spiritual community and care, and building an interdenominational and truly multi-generational spiritual and communal hub at the center of our neighborhood.
Of course, this partnership would also provide the Kingstowne Communion, with the highly-desired, permanent space for Sunday worship and other weekly gatherings; the much-needed storage, stability, consistent visability, and room for growth that our current mobile context cannot provide; and an opportunity to alleviate the toll of mobile ministry on volunteers and staff, remobilizing our most valuable asset - our people - for other crucial mission and ministry.
Our leadership truly believes that this space - this partnership - would give us everything we need to grow, while also ensuring that we remain true to our core values of courageous conversation, creative community, and collaborating for the common good.
The following timeline should give you a picture of the last four months of discernment, and why it was important for us to wait patiently before sharing publicly:
DECEMBER 2023
- Initial dinner meeting with Pastor Bart and Jeannine Purdy, Pastor Michelle Matthews, and the Kingstowne Communion lay leader, Ryan Bouma.
- Kingstowne leadership team agrees to move forward in pursuing a relationship with Virginia Hills Baptist Church & Preschool with the goal of leasing and sharing space in their new building.
JANUARY 2024
- Virginia Hills church council hears and considers the possibility of the Kingstowne Communion renting and sharing space in the new building.
- Virginia Hills shares building plan with Kingstowne pastor and leadership in an additional, initial meeting to assess need, expected use, and rental costs (anticipated starting at $2,500 /mon), as well as formalize a timeline toward approval.
- Kingstowne leadership lays low while allowing Virginia Hills to properly inform their leadership and gain buy-in from their congregation.
FEBRUARY 2024
- Kingstowne submits pre-proposal to NoVA District Committee on Church Location to elicit feedback on whether there are any other United Methodist churches within the geographical vicinity of 6507 Telegraph Rd that would prohibit an otherwise cogent full proposal from being approved (2/8).
- Virginia Hills leadership council approves shared-space lease with Kingstowne, after meeting with Kingstowne’s pastor and hearing more about the Kingstowne Communion and its mission and vision for ministry (2/11).
- Virginia Hills church business meeting, resulting in the following affirmative decisions to:
- Disaffiliate fully and cut any remaining ties with the Southern Baptist Convention
- Join the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
- Remove “Baptist” from the church’s name and new logo
- Rename the church: Virginia Hills Church & Learning Center
- Share space with and lease space to the Kingstowne Communion in the new building (2/25).
- Church Location and Building Committee meets with the five closest UMC churches to appropriately and adequately inform them of the possibility of the Kingstowne Communion moving to and leasing space at 6507 Telegraph Rd (2/29).
MARCH 2024
- Kingstowne and Virginia Hills leadership teams meet for lunch to continue to get to know each other and continue conversations about shared space, usage, equipment, calendars, worship times, and timeline (3/10).
- Kingstowne submits updated pre-proposal to District Location Committee in advance of March 21 meeting (3/11).
- Kingstowne Communion is approved by the District Location Committee to pursue a shared-space partnership and lease with Virginia Hills in their new building at 6507 Telegraph Rd and to share with our full congregation publicly (3/21).
We are so excited to share more details with all of you, and we know you will have plenty of questions going forward, so here are a few things we can all immediately look forward to:
- SUN, MARCH 31 | Easter Sunrise at Nalls with Virginia Hills Church: This Easter will be unusual and bitter-sweet for Virginia Hills, while they are displaced from their property. We have invited them to celebrate Easter and our future ahead together by joining us for our 7:00am sunrise service at Nalls.
- SUN, APRIL 14 | Informational Meeting & Church Conference: Join us back at Hayfield Secondary School after Easter Sunday and our post-Easter Sabbath Sunday, for a chance to hear all the details as we know them now, to ask your questions, and vote as a church to officially move forward in this direction.
- LATE-APRIL (DATE TBA) | Ground-breaking ceremony with Virginia Hills: I have seen God move in every single detail of this process, thus far. Such an opportunity can only be a sign of God's grace and of Kingstowne's reputation and impact in our community thus far.
Grateful and Excited,
Michelle Matthews
Pastor
Recent
Archive
Categories
no categories
No Comments