Over a century ago, the congregations that became Central United Methodist Church and Traverse Bay UMC, both in Traverse City, served very different communities.
Central Church was located in the heart of downtown while Traverse Bay Church was located at the base of the Leelanau Peninsula in a neighborhood called Slabtown. Even though they’ve always been just over a mile away from one another, the neighborhoods back then had differences based on location and social class.
Now, Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City will gain some of Traverse Bay’s members after a vote to merge passed last month. Central UMC has over 800 people in its congregation. Traverse Bay has fewer than 100.
Pastor Matthew Chapman at Traverse Bay says the merger came out of necessity due to declining attendance following the pandemic and burdensome costs to upkeep the church’s 64-year-old building.
However, he said the merger made sense now that Traverse City has become a more singular community.
“Now we can stop being divided,” he said. “Not necessarily divided in ideas, but just separate places of worship. We can come together to continue the service that we've been doing all along.”
According to surveys from the Pew Research Center, in-person worship attendance is slightly lower than it was before COVID-19. The share of U.S. adults who say they generally attend religious services once a month or more has dropped slightly, from 33 percent in 2019 to 30 percent in 2022.
Traverse Bay was first to propose the merger. Councils of both churches approved formal talks last year. A team of six members from each of the two churches was formed to draft a merger plan which included organizing listening sessions with the congregations.
When it came time to vote, officials from both churches said few dissented.
“We're two organizations, one mission, one denomination. This is really about combining our resources for strategic impact in Traverse City and beyond.”Linda Stephan, Lead Pastor at Central UMC
A long history
According to Traverse Bay UMC member Cheryl King, the two churches had plans to merge as early as 1911. King researched the history of methodists in the Grand Traverse Bay Area.
Central UMC was then called First Methodists Church and Traverse Bay UMC was called the Asbury (Second Church).
“The two churches were all set to combine, and the powers to be at the conferences had made the decision that this was going to happen,” King said. “Just a few members of the Second Methodist Church said, ‘we think that we can tough it through this hard time.’”
At the annual conference that year, the group of dissenters presented their plea to Bishop Quayle who gave them one year to prove that the Slabtown neighborhood could support the church.
“The merger did not go through and the Slabtown church which later became Traverse Bay went on operating up until this year,” King said.
Pastor Matthew Chapman said his modern day church didn't fail in its mission by deciding to merge.
“We succeeded. We watched Slabtown go from one of the poorest to one of the richest neighborhoods in town. We walked alongside it from being blue collar workers to established families, doctors, hospitals,” he said. "Now after succeeding in that mission, we are able to make good on that 100-year-old promise to join Central.”
Once the merger is complete in July, Traverse Bay’s assets will transfer to Central, including the building located at 1200 Ramsdell Street. There are no definitive plans for the building yet.
The two churches will worship together as one congregation starting in July.
