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Growing Disciples Monthly Reflections are written by a variety of leaders across our synod; as such, the language reflects the individual's personal theology. We give thanks to Pastor Eric Lemonholm, Pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Rockford, for his reflection on giving their church building to the local YMCA.
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd was founded in 1947 on the Northwest side of Rockford, in a young neighborhood of starter homes across the street from a West High School. For the first two decades, Good Shepherd grew quickly: at its peak in 1968, Good Shepherd had 54 ninth graders in one confirmation class. After 1968, however, membership, worship attendance, and children and youth involvement slowly but steadily declined. In 2008, two members of the church council did a study of our aging congregation and concluded that by 2023, barring massive changes, the church would only be able to support a half-time pastor and minimal support staff, and would be hard-pressed to maintain Good Shepherd’s 25,000 square foot building and grounds.
This study proved prophetic, though starting in 2020 the COVID pandemic, unsurprisingly, accelerated the process. By then, Good Shepherd had already begun the process of searching for partners to share our building. I was called to Good Shepherd in 2011. Since that time, we had shared our building with a Pentecostal congregation for one year, and we had shared our building with Lutheran Social Services’ Prisoner and Family Ministry for a year and a half. By 2020 we were searching for more permanent partnerships, and began conversations with the Rockford YMCA, who moved an after-school Youth program to Good Shepherd in 2021. At the end of 2022, we gave our building to the Y to become a YMCA satellite site, with the provision that we would have a home in the Fireside Chapel.
Throughout this process, we lost some members. This was a lot of change for people to process. We had the blessing of a lack of a large endowment to sustain our building without partners, so the congregation supported the decision with a unanimous vote. But sharing our building with the YMCA and moving out of our large sanctuary were hard changes for some people to accept, and we blessed them on their way. Giving our building and grounds to the YMCA, however, had made possible a dramatic transformation. The YMCA invested $3.7 million into renovating our beautiful building, and ended up with a building that would have cost them $10 million to build from scratch. For us, the deferred maintenance that would have sunk our congregation (new roof, new parking lot, new heating and air conditioning systems, etc.) has been lifted off our shoulders.
For those members who have stayed through the changes, we have begun to see the blessings of our partnership. Now, the Good Shepherd YMCA is open, with exercise facilities for adults, a full gym, and a thriving after-school program for children and youth, Monday-Friday from 2 pm-7 pm. The Good Shepherd YMCA is a true community center for Northwest Rockford, and we have a place in it. Thanks be to God!
