Announcer 1: This program is supported in part by Monroe Street United Methodist Church.

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Joshua: Methodism started really underneath John Wesley and John Wesley, started a movement underneath the Anglican church, where he created these classes and bands, which were really just kind of small groups.

But they were groups that practiced, reading the scriptures, community, sharing one another's, joys and concerns.

he started this to build more community and, to seek more holiness, and to strengthen the church from underneath.

So the term Methodists, it was coined Methodist is because John Wesley was very methodical.

He had books that you had to read.

You had.

He was very methodical in his approach of a teaching and even teaching as pastors and those who were underneath him.

it didn't become a church until much later.

It started as a movement and then eventually became the United Methodist Church.

Bill: Well, when you ask about the history of Monroe Street, in a way you're asking about the history of Toledo, Joshua: This neighborhood looks a lot different than it did 200 years ago.

Bill: becoming a church in 1825 We're on the ground floor of Toledos development.

Joshua: in 1825, Monroe Street UMC was started by a circuit rider.

Bill: Circuit riders.

These are itinerant ministers who conduct religious services.

for congregations.

Before there was a church building, there were church congregations.

Chuck: on the banks of Ten Mile Creek.

That that's where it all started.

I mean, in 1825 the congregation held worship services in people's homes.

somebody invited them to to their cabin to have a church.

And that continued for about 50 years, Bill: then eventually a building more downtown.

that burned and In 1925, the congregation, which was fairly large at that time, decided they needed a new building.

Chuck: the first 20 years, we lived in Toledo, we lived, within between here and Toledo hospital, We had next door neighbors when we first moved in, there were two sisters that were in their 80s Florence would say, we knew that church could never make it.

And I said.

Chuck: cause it had moved so far out of town.

Sue: Yes.

Chuck: That was her line Sue: yes.

Chuck: it killed itself because it had moved so far.

Sue: Yeah.

They.

Chuck: they were still living on the farm.

Sue: we were hearing it from somebody that was living when some of that and that, you know, those changes were being made.

Bill: Members of the church, decided on the present location of Monroe Street United Methodist Church local people and others said, this is not going to be successful.

You are way out in the boonies.

There are not many people here.

You're out in, you know, farm country essentially.

They built what is known as the old part of Monroe Street Church.

It's what you see first if you're coming from downtown.

Minus the larger sanctuary and larger building, which was built in in the 1950s and developed there.

the beginning of the 20th century and leading into World War One.

There was a tremendous growth.

Major, major things happening.

And so in keeping with that, religious development, outreach missions for churches.

Toledo and Monroe Street, by being in its location, could serve a little different community than if we were right downtown Larry: Monroe Street was the, number one church.

Ruth: it was packed.

at one time you would have attendance of 1200 people.

Larry: Monroe Street, was sort of on the growing edge of Toledo when they built the building out here.

and the church was, overflowing with, members.

It had many prominent citizens of, Toledo that were a part of the congregation.

Lou: back then the choir had about 60 members, the adult choir, and there were 2 or 3 children's choirs of various ages.

There were bell choirs, so we had lots and lots and lots of music.

it meant so much to so many people.

Clarence: The music program was well known throughout the city at that time.

The music director was highly respected, excellent organist.

So, her reputation as well as that of the music program, really established, the church's music program as one to be recognized in the city.

Lou: I really realized that that's not who we are anymore.

It tugged at my heart just a little bit.

But if you look at the entire picture of what's happened to the church over the last 25, 30 years, it's easy to understand, you know, how things have evolved in many, many ways and many, many channels.

And that's one of them.

Many churches don't even have choirs anymore.

when everyone's here, there's probably 20 people.

the congregation still said, how do you get that much sound They're just passionate, you know, about what they're doing.

So.

Clarence: see an attempt to adjust to the times as well.

So in that sense there was a little international flavor that was involved, there were spirituals, some light gospel pieces have been introduced.

Lou: a real wise man once told me there are only two kinds of music.

There's good music and there's bad music.

And so we try to do good music, And I think it's music is important to the life of any church.

Honestly, if I had not taken the job here, I probably would have just sort of faded away into nothing because they were my support.

The music is the thing that kept me going because I had a reason to keep going, you know so to Clarence: This church is actually trying to incorporate itself into what is happening in the larger community and in this neighborhood as well.

Sue: our son, who got so ill from Aids, he had had a very tough seven first seven years of his life of being shuffled from this person to that person and some situations that were not good.

and he he died at 26.

He was a very, Very damaged soul in some ways.

But he still he still had a good heart.

And a loving heart is just he couldn't pull it off because of the early life that he had.

he told me a story right before he died about one day getting on a bus downtown and coming out Monroe Street.

they stopped at the stop.

That's right across the street here from the the church and he said, I was just I thought, I can go here he knew that hearts here were okay, even though he was having a lot of trouble, and his own, situation.

And I was just so grateful for that.

You.

Chuck: it's pretty clear who Jesus spent his time with when he was here.

If you read the Bible you know, it wasn't, the Pharisees and Sadducees.

It was, the woman by the well and the the guy with some mental health, issues so that he drove the, demons out of those were the people he spent his time with, preaching to everybody and welcoming everybody.

And told us to go into the world and do the same.

Larry: urban churches all, have been in decline is with the growth of suburbs it was very hard for urban churches to transition to the new neighbors that move into those, those, communities.

And, and Monroe Street was no different.

Ruth: This neighborhood was blended at that time.

It was, whites and some blacks, but the church wasn't.

Dave: So that was a very challenging time for the church.

And the church has begun to significantly see a decline in, in membership Larry: because of the culture of the church, it also didn't connect very well with the new community.

Joshua: our world is constantly changing, right?

Things aren't done the way they were done.

200 years ago.

I don't ride a horse to one church to the next.

Now we got cars and busses and with technology and with, different cultural changes because of that, the church has to recognize that the way it reaches people has to change as well.

Bob: whether it's a Methodist church or whatever denomination, if they don't really take things serious about connecting with the people around them, they're going to eventually die But that has not happened here at Monroe Street.

And I'm thankful for that.

Bill: I've seen clearly a shift from serving you and you and you as individuals to serving a larger community.

Bob: I think some people didn't understand what it meant to open to the community, not because they didn't care, but they didn't know what to do.

Joshua: We are called to love all people, and we are called to love God.

And the reality is, is those two statements are not really separate.

They're intertwined.

For you cannot love God without loving your neighbor.

And your neighbor is anyone and everyone you come in contact with, Bob: we planted a seed.

Between the church and the community.

Ruth: ministerial staff said we should be doing something, in the little house behind the church, we opened up the bridge, seeing the house as the bridge itself to the neighborhood.

we started with, offering food and clothing, and they came.

we started doing some after school things we already had a basketball program high school boys and young adult men, I started doing some programing with them.

their younger siblings when I left to go to seminary My daughter tried to keep me informed, but what she did, what she was telling me, just didn't describe the reality of it.

they were growing.

what it is now, the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center.

delving into the history of the church, that was kind of a dream for many, many years, part of the vision for many, many years.

This is a 100 year old article from the Blade.

The aims of the church are described as follows.

It is pleasant to look backward, but practical wisdom shows itself in looking forward.

We are forced by present growth to plan for the future.

While thankful for the heritage of the past, we appreciate the responsibility of the present and feel that we must go on to still better things.

Walter: you know, in my prayers.

Pray for, that congregation the church over there because they done done so much for me.

These people hate these people.

These people hate those people.

Will you ever change?

Will they ever stop?

people need to unite My acronym for war is World Against Religion.

World against race I remember I used to walk by this church, you know, I never thought much about what goes on inside of it, And people introduced me to the food pantry They've been there 200 years, and the last 50 years its reached out to this community?

the invitation is there.

They have all kind of programs for the community.

somehow the word got out.

I guess.

somebody asked me about these houses.

I said, well, I don't have credit.

And, they they just considered me anyway, Larry: I read a statistics where in 1973, the average, home was 1600 square feet.

Today it's over 3000ft.

we had this empty block, next to the church, Bluff Street, part of the issue is the new building codes, you can't build the same house on it of the same size that used to be there.

usually you have to have two lots side by side in a, in the city to build a house on it, but a small house, a tiny house you can fit on a traditional urban lot.

houses that lead to home ownership.

you have to have stakeholders.

You have to have owners.

in the United States.

The number one way people build equity is homeownership.

there's no steps, that the doors are wide, that we're in a wheelchair or have a walker.

You can you can move around in your house.

So Walter has been there a long time.

people that live in those houses, they will live there seven years.

At the end of seven years, they'll be the owner of the house.

it's not a requirement that they be involved with the church.

But the church is right there.

Plus they have access then to the neighborhood center.

So, the neighborhood center resources are available to, to the, neighbors.

And, we are now fully stocked with tools.

For the community to borrow.

the tool library is open to the entire community.

The idea is to, really enable people to take care of their property.

Marilyn: for me, my, Area where I feel I've been called, to serve is, is in the environment.

I've been involved with the garden committee since we started this garden helped install two rain gardens, to help protect the quality of the Ottawa River.

incorporated the environment and care for creation into worship and, prayer times Bea: we have a duty to turn the land and, and protect it the one about the mustard seed, mustard seed and growing and Marilyn's better at that.

The connection She knows her Bible better than I do.

Marilyn: Monroe Street They are, very supportive of using your own gifts in the way God calls you to use them.

Some of this garden is, available for members of the community to garden.

Bea: but the rest of the beds we use to support the, Monroe Street neighborhood, center, our food pantry.

Tracci: We are currently inside the LaRue auditorium.

So this used to be the chapel area.

we have four main programs at the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center.

The bridge, a food pantry, clothing and small household items.

Every Tuesday we have a senior wellness program exercise classes and nutrition and wellness programs for our senior citizens.

Freedom School, It's a summer camp focused on reading and it serves children ages 5 to 12.

And then we have, the Bluff Street Village, we have meeting rooms as well where sewing classes take place.

And we have some of our nutrition and wellness classes, inside of our parlor area.

Dave: there was a lot of discussion around should we close that end of the building and to the point that it was actually brought to the, to a vote of the congregation.

Tracci: Food cost, housing costs, just the cost of clothing is so high.

And it's it's not just the people that walk through the doors of the church for the service, but we're spreading that mission and serving the community.

Dave: as that's come full circle to fruition while our numbers of members has diminished somewhat, the use of the building has exploded.

I mean, we have we have that space being utilized almost on a daily, regular, continuous basis Larry: it would have been tragic if they had closed the old section of the building, it has enabled so much ministry to happen Tracci: the neighborhood center This is an extension of the church, the mission of the church is to serve the people.

So we're here serving the people Joshua: I get there's a negative stereotype of church in general.

There's a lot of good that the church has done over the years.

There's also a lot of bad.

It's really not as much about the church as it is about people, because people are flawed, right?

Lynne: John Wesley, who was our founder, you know, really emphasized that.

And he's got a great quote, he's writing to this group called The Perfectionists in London.

he goes on, I dislike this.

I dislike that what I most dislike is your divisive spirit.

you know, he also says that, you know, you don't have to agree with people, you know, we're not talking about agreement in thought.

We're talking about love.

And you will love God and you will love your neighbor and and leave that other stuff out Joshua: it has been apparent to me that all mystics from every religion meaning that they are people who give themselves to a deeper spirituality, come to the same conclusion, and that is that God is love.

we believe here at Monroe Street that God loves all people.

And the word all there really means all people.

Lynne: We have been a reconciling congregation, for many years.

the United Methodist.

And we are part of that.

And we do, you know, allow and celebrate, LGBTQ marriage and clergy.

you know, we've had people come in to events who have said, man, I haven't been in a church for 30 years when we go to the pride parade, as Methodists, you know, it's you can you can see the surprise and delight on the faces of the people along the path where they see these Methodists you know singing Lady Gaga, you're beautiful in your way because God makes no mistakes, you know, I think Toledo is such an amazing, city so far as I mean, we are just, a beautiful microcosm of diversity in every way.

Racial, ethnic, socio economic, religious, Joshua: And if you exist, we see your existence and we want to honor that existence.

And that's what being inclusive is about Bailey: basically, I googled, churches near me that don't hate people.

And this one popped up and I said, okay, I'll give it a go.

And I've stayed ever since.

the faith I've grown up with and the faith that I learned about was all about love and acceptance and not just love, but unconditional love.

And that that was really what I was searching for.

I work as a mental health counselor.

And one of the things that often comes up is religious trauma, unfortunately, where people felt alienated or felt dismissed by church communities or belief patterns.

I've never seen or experienced that here.

I don't know if how much you've, you've filmed around, but we, we do show up just as we are and we just rock and roll with it.

for me, therapy and counseling was a calling for me.

I want to be treated as a full human being, and therefore I'm going to treat other people like a full human being.

So I have some Catholic friends.

I have some Lutheran and Presbyterian friends.

Non-denominational friends.

I've got a pagan friend.

it really is like, again, a personal internal sense of grounding and safety and validation when you walk through those doors.

Joshua: Methodism does look different.

For instance, one of the things that is different in the United Methodist Church that just happened recently is, is the the the taking of the Non-Inclusive language around sexuality.

Out of the Book of Discipline before it would, it said something like, homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

And we just recently got that removed, from the, the, The Book of Discipline.

So that it reads more affirming and loving and caring for those who identify, differently than I do.

Larry: United Methodist churches are very diverse and And they reflect usually the culture in which the congregation is located.

And so it's always, kind of a balancing act between honoring the tradition and moving into the future.

And it's not always smooth.

What we said at Monroe Street was we're not going to go one way or the other.

We're going to be we're going to try to do a blend with the pews instead of straight line pews where you only looked at the back of someone's head, we put them on an angle so that at least you could kind of look across the aisle and you could see somebody face.

this wasn't all, acceptable to some folks.

there's a challenge when you make significant changes to a place that has been home for, for 40 years or 50 years for some members, and you start taking out pews and you start reconfiguring things, and it, it's kind of traumatic for some folks.

And so, but I would say the majority of folks embrace the changes and, and knew that change had to come.

Otherwise the church probably wouldn't continue to exist.

Bailey: whether this church is here for another 200 years, which I certainly hope it is the hope in the light of the people that attend here certainly isn't going anywhere.

And as long as that's there, we're here.

Joshua: Love God and love each other.

Bill: I'm pleased to be a member of Monroe Street United Methodist Church Sue: we all need to be in it together.

Chuck: where God is at work go join them Sue: and join Ruth: the church doesn't have to have walls, Bill: Nothing separates us from God's love in Christ Jesus.

Tracci: we need each other.

Dave: devoted, committed congregation, community that, has accepted us And Wonderful, wonderful fellowship.

Announcer 1: This program is supported in part by Monroe Street United Methodist Church.

And by.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

Can.