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During COVID, the mission of Central United Methodist Church changed to meet the need.
Friday-morning breakfast was replaced by the Back Porch Bodega. Church members distributed food, clothing, coats, gloves, warm hats and sack lunches. The food came from the Arlington Food Assistance Center, neighbors, members of our congregation and other friends of the Friday-morning breakfast. Heidelberg Bakery continued to donate baked goods.
There seemed to be fewer homeless and more individuals and families who were hit especially hard with the loss of jobs and income when everything shut down. Between 50 and 100 people came to the Bodega each week.
Sometimes timing is everything. In November 2018, Amazon announced its plans to bring their second headquarters to Arlington and create 25,000 new jobs in the county. According to The Washington Post, the shortage of affordable housing was severe enough that state lawmakers committed $75 million of state funds for affordable housing in Northern Virginia as part of the overall deal. Amazon separately gave $20 million to Arlington for its own housing funds, plus another $40 million in land to build more affordable units. Arlington used AHIF (Arlington Housing Investment Fund) to hold these contributions.
Developers in Arlington often are required to put a percentage of the value of the investment into this fund, and the county decides how it is used for affordable housing.
Circling back around to the timing issue, just as these funds became available, Central United Methodist Church happened to be knocking at the county government’s door, with a plan in hand for 144 affordable housing units.
It was a perfect fit: Since 100 percent of the building’s units are affordable units, the project was eligible to secure low-cost loans.
The final plan blends our mission to create affordable housing with a church building that includes an enlarged preschool, versatile meeting space and a commercial kitchen to continue our homeless breakfast/lunch mission. We were proud to partner with APAH (Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing), which will manage the 144 affordable housing units.
During the spring of 2021, Central donated items such as pews and other furniture to other churches and nonprofits; other items were auctioned off. The church had to be completely emptied prior to demolition. In July 2021 the church began sharing the
former Arlington Forest United Methodist Church with the First Vietnamese American United
Methodist Church, which has culturally enriched our congregation, an unexpected blessing.
During the time we are out of our Ballston location, church volunteers gather food through food rescues to share with our community partners. We also work with Casa Mariflor on the collection of food and clothing for those who need it.
Project financing closed on Dec. 9, 2021, with groundbreaking soon following. The eight-story building was designed to be energy efficient and provide functional space for the church’s many ministries to the Arlington community. The 26,699-square-foot space will include a sanctuary, classrooms, music suite, commercial kitchen, and a fellowship hall. The sanctuary will feature livestreaming technology, allowing more options for worship and community use of the space.
The expanded preschool space, operated by Kinhaven, will increase their capacity to provide preschool for more children, daycare for infants, and expand their operating hours to provide services to families.
This journey of faith, time, vision and many (many!) meetings has gone from a wild idea to a breathtaking reality. What could fill another story are the problems and shortages that seemed like something that would “derail the train” only to have a solution present itself, completely outside of our doing, what some would call moments of grace or divine intervention.
We believe that the work of the church is outside of the building. We want to work in the local community and beyond to put into practice what our beliefs inspire. We want to respond whether the work is with the homeless, providing school supplies to those in need, or rebuilding homes damaged by disaster. We hope that in addition to these missions, other mission opportunities will present themselves and with the help of friends we haven’t met yet, we will be able to live our mission to “Worship God, Serve Others and Embrace All.”
