Lessons of faith, evident only in retrospect Happy 25th Birthday, MOM!
Middleton Times Tribune - March, 2005 by Dietrich Gruen, Middleton Outreach Ministry
Faith tries to predict an unseen future that is knowable only in retrospect.
Thus learning about our past strengthens our faith and keys our future.
MOM is 25 years old this week. A city-wide birthday party is set for June
6-12, 2005. To preview our 25th Anniversary events, click
here.
But I am getting ahead of myself, so let’s back up, 26 years or so, and
picture this:
Farms separated Middleton from Madison, whose western edge was then “Hill
Farms.” Now MOM’s service area spans West Madison, stretching from
Hilldale to Cross Plains.
A cursory glance through the MTT of 1980 tells me that apartments rented
for $240-$280/month, houses sold for $40,000 (more or less) in this bedroom
community of Madison . Since 1980, apartment rents have more than doubled,
the purchase price of a home has increased six-fold, but wages & benefits
have increased by only 150%. Middleton now searches for ways to make “workforce
housing” more affordable, as it imports workers from other cities.
Three thousand multi-family rental units (vs. only 1800 single-family dwellings)
were being built to accommodate a population that doubled in a decade, to 12,500
by 1979, but the churches did not at all reflect this double-in-a-decade growth.
Today the churches affiliated with MOM are growing again, with the majority
building new additions in the last five years.
Unchurched apartment-dwellers—the sole focus of “Middleton
Outreach Mission”—were seen in 1980 as living “transitional
lives” due to “divorce, bereavement, school, retirement or some
other major upheaval” (Linda Thompson in Capital Times). MOM
still serves mostly the unchurched, and still without proselytizing.
“When people don’t come to church, the church must come to people,
and that takes a leap of faith,” Keith Hinsman reported about MOM’s
start-up in the Lutheran Standard. St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
took that leap of faith in 1979, thanks to its pastors (James Ohlrogge & Allen
Wahl), lay leaders (Bill & Nette Schlinsog, Gene & Marge Gray among
others), and American Lutheran Church (Susan Thompson). Together they established
an “outreach mission” with a $50,000 grant from the ALC, matched
by $56,000 in funds pledged by St. Luke’s members on Mission Sunday,
June 3, 1979.
St. Luke’s called Rev. Gary Simpson to lead this experimental ministry.
Simpson was installed on March 16, 1980 as one-quarter time Associate Pastor
at St. Luke’s and three-fourths time Director of MOM, the latter a position
he held for 15 years.
When hard times hit MOM, Simpson’s hours were cut, forcing him to take
a second job. By comparison, yours truly also started three-fourth’s
time (in 1997) as executive director, but moved to fulltime within a year and
would never be asked to take a second job in the event of a shortfall. Instead
and by faith, MOM continues to add staff and more volunteers. This week we
called Rev. Joan Deming to join the MOM staff as Constituent Relations Manager.
Back to the early 1980’s,… Three other congregations—St.
Bernard’s Catholic, Middleton Community, and St. Dunstan’s Episcopal
soon aligned with and supported this venture of faith. In February of 1984,
Middleton Outreach Mission was legally restructured into “Middleton Outreach
Ministry, Inc,” with a Board of Directors made up of lay and clergy representatives
of the member churches. Of the programs and services now associated with MOM—food
pantry, rent assistance, medical bills, gas & meal vouchers, motel stays,
transportation help, financial counseling, visiting the elderly, Good Samaritan
relief & in-kind donations, the Christmas dinner, Adopt-A-Family, Stephen
Ministry—none were envisioned when Pastor Simpson first arrived 25 years
ago this week, but all were initiated under his leadership.
MOM has also been known for creative ministry initiatives that “spin
off” when that need can be better met elsewhere. For example, MOM once
sponsored a K.i.D.S Vacation Church School, Media Ministries on cable access
TV, the circus, a Thanksgiving meal program, an apartment newsletter (2300
circulation), and Gary’s unique 24/7 apartment-based ministry. In 1982-86,
MOM’s Emergency Aid Fund was distributed in cooperation with the City
of Middleton Relief Director. Later Dane County Human Services took over welfare
rolls from local municipalities.
Then as now, funds were received through churches, service clubs, businesses,
and private individuals. But Simpson had only about $7,000 per year to redistribute,
so he scrambled for in-kind donations. Now MOM redistributes that much in a
peak month.
MOM’s food pantry first operated out of a closet at St. Luke’s
Annex at 7325 Hubbard Ave. That Annex is long gone and the pantry now operates
out of a 4000-sq ft warehouse in Middleton Business Park. But the problem of
hunger continues to astound and confound us:
In 1990, MOM’s “Hubbard Cupboard” handed out 8 tons of
food.
By 1998, we were giving away 42 tons of food per year.
By 2004, that grew to 73 tons of food per year.
Those numbers indicate this “ Good Neighbor City” rises to every
occasion. Most recently, you all responded to local needs by giving MOM excellent
January and February donations, the best two months of a new year, ever.
But questions remain: Who could have foreseen exponential growth the day
MOM was born? Looking ahead, what future growth—or shortfall— is
in store for this community-based ministry? Lord, how will You guide and
provide for MOM through good times and bad?
The answers will be known only as we look back, years from now, on the actions
we take today. That takes faith. And takes ALL of you. Together we can make it
a “Happy 25th Birthday” for MOM.
