Building on the Past, Experimenting for the Future

BY MELISSA MCGILL

PHOTOS SHARED BY BETHESDA UMC AND HAW CREEK COMMONS

The Haw Creek Commons coworking space is filled with natural light and modern updates.

HAW CREEK COMMONS WAS BORN AS A WHAT-IF. “RATHER THAN CLOSING THE CONGREGATION COMPLETELY, WHAT HAPPENS IF WE PARTNER AND SEE IF REVITALIZATION CAN COME THROUGH THIS PROCESS?” EXPLAINED REV. LUKE LINGLE, LEADER WITH THE MISSION WISDOM FOUNDATION. “RECOGNIZING THAT WHATEVER THE NEW THING IS THAT WE’RE DOING HERE, IT BUILDS ON THE PAST.”

Tours start in the archive room. This is a foundational principle, not just logistics. This patch of land near the Haw Creek has been the home of a congregation since the 1800’s. In a small room filled with artifacts from Bethesda United Methodist Church’s almost 200-year history, the message is that where we’ve been is just as important as where we’re going.

When conversations between Bethesda, the Missional Wisdom Foundation and the Western North Carolina Conference began, 13 people were on the church rolls. After meeting once a month for a year, they decided to embark on an experiment.

Scenes from the life of the Church.

This experiment that became Haw Creek Commons centers on a theological idea that people gather in community primarily in four ways — around work, around food, around children, and around affinities or hobbies. The new space reflects that. A coworking space and a commercial kitchen now fill the basement. A new natural playground and path connects with the neighboring elementary school. And spaces around the campus are lovingly allocated for groups like a quilting club, beekeepers and gardeners.

Rev. Karen Doucette at a Blessing of the Animals

Community Pastor Rev. Karen Doucette, who has deep roots here, thoughtfully and intentionally leads the congregation through this transitional time. During the massive renovations, the church met next door in the parsonage-turned-retreat-house and focused on the garden. As I eat a freshly-picked ripe strawberry warm from the sun, it brings to mind verses from Jeremiah about planting gardens in exile. During those four years, the congregation grew in number. “We thought it would be a holding time, but people just came,” Doucette shared. “They want to keep things simple. They want to learn to serve and to be followers of Christ.”

“They understand the idea of the commons, that they’re a part of something bigger than just the congregation.” Lingle added. “Commons require that everyone participating gives to the space and receives from it.”

Today, approximately 45-50 people are part of Bethesda’s worshipping community and 25 people currently use the space here for their work, ranging from artists and therapists to caterers and creatives. Desiree is an artist using space here as a studio. She came to Haw Creek Commons through the community garden before the building was even finished. She works with beeswax that she puts through printing and painting process. Her art is on display in several of the meeting rooms alongside wooden tables made from the church’s pews, another tie to the history of this space.

In the Sanctuary, the original stained-glass pairs with hardwood floors and trendy griege paint, a popular mix of gray and beige. It’s a multi-use space and the congregation has experimented with facing different directions to correspond with different liturgical seasons of the church. Some new traditions they have begun feel both new and old at the same time. When a new member joins, the congregation brings canned jams and jellies forward as an offering and a welcome gift. Throughout the whole building, there is a sense of returning to the simplicity of our roots, to the core of what matters and brings us together in community, as way to create new spaces for the future.

Scenes from the life of the church.