Munger Place United Methodist to be renovated and reborn as Highland Park UMC satellite

by PegNews wire

Munger Place Methodist, established in 1913 and once the worship center for more than 2,000, is now at no more than 200. Though that number represents a rise over the past couple years, the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church has taken over the building and will renovate and reopen it as a satellite site for the Highland Park United Methodist Church.

Though many other faiths in the area already have satellite churches set up, this is a first for local Methodists.

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burlyqueen, says:

I just hope they restore it in a way that will make the building even more beautiful.

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8 months, 1 week ago
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CitizenKane, says:

This is a very good sign for the neighborhood. I hope they do a nice renovation.

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8 months ago
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CoolOnion, says:

The Michael Young story in the Dallas Morning News presents a very one-sided view from the congregation. He only interviewed two members, one of whom joined just a few weeks ago. These two women have taken it upon themselves to "save Munger Place," but haven't gone through the decades of hard work that the rest of us have done, struggling to keep our doors open. For the rest of us, who didn't get interviewed by Michael Young, the offer by the North Texas Conference is the answer to about ten years worth of prayers!

I've attended Munger Place UMC since 1990 and have been involved in meeting, brainstorming, and praying over how best to serve God and the community from our corner of East Dallas. In 2004, we met with the Conference and voted on whether or not to close our doors; at that time, we voted to stay open, but understood that a big change had to happen to keep our doors open. One member, Elizabeth Blessing (the first woman to run for mayor of Dallas back in the 1960s!) proposed that we become a "mission station" church, basically an urban mission of a larger congregation. This proposal, while not exactly what we had envisioned, is a bit like that. Our historic building gets renovated and remains in service to God and the community instead of being turned into loft apartments, and remains part of the United Methodist Church, as its founders intended.