It’s easy to say “the church is not a building.”

The cost of stirring up hope.

Jason Micheli

Feb 19, 2025

Dear Church,

I fear I buried the lede in a message a couple of weeks ago to you. I want to re-up it and get it before your eyes.

In sum:

The recent winter weather is the hunter.
And our not young facilities— main campus and Mission Center— are the prey.

It should not be the trustees’ headache alone; it should be a matter for your prayer and consideration. We’ve got infrastructure repairs that are beyond what our operating budget or annual endowment allotment will be able to handle.

It’s easy to say “the church is not a building.”

But the buildings in question— one is feeding approximately 450 families per week and the other is the place where a newcomer on Sunday confessed faith in Jesus.

Last month, we applied for a denominational grant that would alleviate much of the looming bill. So, pray shamelessly that we get it. And prepare to pray imprecatory prayers if we do not receive it— imprecatory: I’ve given you homework.

Suffice it to say, your church leaders would like you to know what’s what in the church and since I arrived, a surprising number of years ago, I pledged to keep church matters transparent.

Transparency is, I believe, a necessary correlative to grace.

In case you missed the earlier missive, this is what I contributed to the grant application:

Dear Northern Virginia District Strategy Team,
It is my privilege to serve Christ alongside the laity and staff at Annandale United Methodist Church, and I want to echo their requests for grant consideration. Such an award would empower the church to expand its impact in ministry and mission by alleviating the burden posed by two large, aging facilities.
At Annandale, our guiding watchword is “Grace sets us free to love our neighbors,” and this watchword frames how we prioritize our work, proclaiming the gospel in word and music, catechizing children, youth and adults to grasp and trust the gospel, and finally exemplifying the gospel by service to our neighbors.
This gospel focus is bearing encouraging fruit in a number of aspects:
While in-person worship on a given Sunday has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, the number of different individual worshippers over the span of a month has increased. Many of these are new folks who specifically cite that they were searching for a church which made the gospel its focus. A component of this focus is that God regularly baptizes adults at Annandale, and our online diaspora of members and participants has expanded exponentially in recent years with folks from all over the country joining our Monday studies and Sunday service.
Our fall stewardship campaign resulted in an average pledge increase of 17%. The stewardship team personally contacted every potential donor and reported back unanimous satisfaction from the church’s constituency. The congregation is united and enthusiastic about its gospel focus and vocation to our neighbors.
After several years of working with attorneys to rezone the Annandale Mission Center (formerly Immanuel UMC), the Fairfax Board of Supervisors granted the church a new zoning specification “in light of the enormous community benefit Annandale provides, especially in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.” As important as the 400 families we feed every week, we have in the last two years opened a Children’s Dental Clinic and Women’s Wellness Unit through partnerships with local service providers. This spring we will unveil a community garden on the grounds of the Mission Center. The church’s ministry through the Mission Center is now an essential part of the Annandale community.
Annandale recently invested in a new position, recruiting Elaine Woods to serve as the Director of Christian Formation. This transition was made in response to the findings of the NLI process, which showed the potential for a focus on older adult ministries in our community. In addition to overseeing our children’s discipleship, Elaine has begun offering older adult ministries to which the community has responded. Meanwhile, Peter Kwon has grown into a remarkably effective proclaimer of the gospel to youth and young adults with a wide constituency of participants in and out of the church and serving as a mentor to other youth pastors in Northern Virginia. And Patrick Vaughn’s leadership of our music ministries attracts both participants and audiences for its gospel-centered excellence.
All of this fruit coincides with increased costs related to facilities, supplies, and food and has come even as the church has streamlined its staffing. Alleviation of this concern would certainly equip us to expand our impact.
For instance—
This fall Allen came forward to join our congregation. Allen started worshipping with us in June just after his wife died. She was ill and bedridden for several years, requiring Allen’s constant, faithful care and leaving him without the time to worship. He came to Annandale UMC the Sunday after she died.
In talking about joining the church, Allen shared this with me: “My first Sunday in June— I was greeted warmly at the door and again by the usher. I sat in the very back. You preached. Peter and Elaine made jokes about you that warmed my heart. The choir sang “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.” And, I’m telling you, it hit me. All the pieces came together and became God's Word for me when I most needed it”
A few weeks later a young woman joined us and quickly gotten plugged into the church. Over coffee, after sharing about her recent divorce and resulting depression, she said to me, “I was desperate to find a church that makes the main thing the main thing.”
While the VAUMC grant would allow us to address some of our facility concerns without mitigating our ministry, the actual beneficiaries are people like these who I believe Jesus is wooing through the work of Annandale UMC.
Enjoy Your Forgiveness,
Jason Micheli

Stirring Up Hope

Don’t let the aging facility doldrums get you down. Here is a piece by a mentor of mine, Paul Zahl, about what makes a church thrive. It is, shockingly, not hard. Check it out.

Mockingbird Conference

Mockingbird is a grace-centric, parachurch ministry for which I’ve written and at which I’ve spoken for about ten years. They have a conference in New York City every spring— May 1-3.

Mockingbird is my tribe, and they’re the partner organization for the Iowa Preachers Project of which I’m the Preacher-in-Residence. Which is to say, I think you’ll be glad to check them out.

Annandale actually has a handful of members who have come to us via Mbird.

The 2025 conference is the first week of May. I will be contributing on a panel, but, more importantly, the other speakers— I promise you— will be a blessing to you. Sarah Gates, a recent member who teaches our children in Sunday School. She found us through Mockingbird’s editor, and she is interested in securing lodging for any who might want to join an Annandale contingent at the conference.

If you’re interested in attending, let Sarah know: gates.sarahk@gmail.com.

It’s F@$%#!#$ Cold Out!

Sign up to help with the Hypothermia Shelter, Mar. 16-23, at annandalechurch.com/hypothermia. I’m going to assume you (like me) were not aware we were soliciting volunteers. Times are crazy, etc. But, seriously, we need your help.