A MONUMENT TO COMPROMISE OR INDECISION?

Morenci, Michigan Church of the Nazarene

If you looked at the promotional material for the Morenci, Michigan Church of the Nazarene you will notice its' location listed as "on the corner of Summit and Baldwin Streets".  If you were to drive to that location you would find the original building built in the middle 1950s to be pointed perfectly at the intersection of those two streets.  Being one who is always curious about why things are the way they are, I asked why?  Was it an attempt at doing something creative?  Was it something to do with building codes?  Why not have the building face either Baldwin Street or Summit Street?

I found the answer to my question most intriguing as it raised more questions in my mind than it answered.  Here's the answer!  The church, founded in 1926, had a church board that couldn't decide.  Some wanted the new facility to face Summit Street and some wanted it to face Baldwin Street.  Neither group would give in to the other until finally, in order to get the project moving, someone suggested they just compromise and point it right at the corner!  (to this day some mail comes to Summit Street and some to Baldwin Street).

Song Evangelist, Mark Murphy

Man, I wish I could have been there for those board meetings.  I wonder how contentious they might have been, how vocal the two sides were, what the pastor's role was?  But as of this date, 60 years later, no one with such information can be found and the records of those meetings seem to have disappeared.  So as I
pen these words, I am left to question whether the structure that faces the corner is a monument to compromise or a moment to indecision? (Perhaps you can help me out with your thoughts in the comment area provided)

Pastor Dennis Owens

Compromise is not always a bad thing.  Perhaps the motion to point the thing to the middle was a wonderful, fully accepted solution to a debilitating issue.  Perhaps it was exactly the right thing to do, for the sake of the church.  No one was declared a "winner" and no one a "loser'.  Everyone went away pleased and no one left the church.

But maybe it's a monument to the inability to decide....to make a decision and run with it.  It may have really pleased no one but they were able to say; "Well, at least we got it built."  It may have been a lingering sore spot for years every time either the "Baldwiners" or the "Summiters" drove up to the church.  Maybe one group parked on Baldwin Street and the other on Summit.  Maybe no one was happy and several left the church.

But once again, here's what I know for sure....no one remembers!  Those "monumental" decisions we make are soon forgotten and rolled into a corner of the tapestry that becomes His church.  The battles we thought so critical have vanished into time.  Hopefully we can always remember that there are so many more important things to invest our energy in other than which street the church faces.

 Today, the new buildings, built in the mid 1980's stretch along Summit Street and the worshipers gather to worship their Savior in harmony and unity.  They are strong and dedicated laypeople who love their church and the pastor.  They know how to pray.  They reach out to the lost.  They support one another.  They are the church; His church!

The real address of His church in Morenci (pop. 2,200) is found on many different street corners and country roads.  It is housed in those who love and serve Him and it is alive and well.