JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A historic Jackson church is hoping a new capital campaign will assist it continue to be a beacon in the community for years to come.
Broadmeadow United Methodist Church will turn 75 years old in September.
To mark the occasion, the congregation has launched a $75,000 capital campaign to raise funds for building improvements, including repairs to its steeple.
“This is an old building… So, we have some things that are falling apart,” stated Rev. Sue Hyland. “We required a little assist to continue to be a beacon of hope in this community.”
Broadmeadow launched the campaign recently and so far, has raised more than $22,000.
Hyland stated she’s excited about the response to the fundraiser so far, outlining several of the improvements in the works.
“One of our main concerns, all the time becautilize we’re in Mississippi, is our air conditioning,” she stated. “Some Sunday mornings, we receive here and it’s working great, and some Sunday mornings, we have to relocate to the Fellowship Hall or the Chapel, but then sometimes, the Chapel air conditioning goes out and we have to find somewhere else to go.”
“It’s just one of those things,” she stated. “We face the issues that you would expect to face with a 75-year-old building.”
The top priority, though, is the church’s steeple. Over the years, the towering structure has been beaten by the elements. Paint is cracked and chipped, while a portion of the railing around it has been damaged. A gaping hole, meanwhile, allows light – and rain – to pour inside.
A large, metal pan has been placed in the attic to collect rain and debris.
Hyland climbed up one set of attic stairs and two metal ladders, where more damage is revealed in the form of rotting wood, and cracks allowing in sunlight.
“The steeple doesn’t just serve us,” she stated. “When the bell is rung, you can hear it throughout the neighborhood, and there are neighbors who have been here a long time, who love that bell.”
According to its website, Broadmeadow was incorporated on September 11, 1950. Work on the building launched shortly after and was completed in 1955.
The church was a major part of what was then known as Broadmeadow Community – an area that includes approximately 400 homes bordered by Meadowbrook Road Northside Drive, I-55 North and North State Street.
“All built, almost all built in the 1950s for the GIs that were returning, [raising] their kids here… Boyd School is just across the street… Chastain is just down the street. So, this was a vibrant neighborhood and kids everywhere,” stated Bill Brister, chair of the church’s Board of Trustees.
When Brister and his wife, Elizabeth Brister, launched attfinishing there about 30 years ago, about 150 people attfinished worship services every Sunday.
But as more people relocated to the suburbs, the congregation launched to dwindle.
That membership stabilized about 20 years ago and is now growing again, something that leaders credit, in part, to its decision to become a “reconciling church.”
“I don’t know the year exactly, but Broadmeadow decided no matter what the denomination stated, we were going to be an open and welcoming place to all people, especially LGBTQIA people, and so they voted [and] built the decision to become reconciling, which means that they aren’t just a welcoming congregation, they are also affirming of all people,” Hyland stated. “We are one of two congregations in the whole state of Mississippi.”
The other church is Court Street United Methodist Church in Hattiesburg, where Hyland was pastor before coming to Jackson.
Brister was one of the members who voted to become a reconciling church.
“I would have voted in favor of welcoming all people, regardless of sexual orientation or race or anything else, no matter when the vote was taken,” he stated. “That just sfinishs a message to all other churches and to people seeing for a church that this is a place they can come and be welcome and feel safe.”
“I always felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Today, Broadmeadow averages between 40 and 50 people each Sunday, a number that’s grown by about 15 in the last year and a half.
The church also is continuing its work in the community. About 20 years ago, the church founded the Broadmeadow Neighborhood Association, a group that has worked to stabilize the neighborhood now known as Fondren North.
“It has cleaned out blight. We have neighbors that acquire houtilizes around them, and redo them and sell them or rent them, so that we don’t have random investors coming in and taking over the neighborhood, and then they also have a Fourth of July picnic,” Hyland stated.
That event is held annually on Broadmeadow’s “Unity Lawn,” a large green space across the street from the sanctuary.
“And then there’s… a neighborhood celebration called ‘Fondren Fright’ that will be on its third year this October,” she stated. “It’s open to the community. Whoever wants to come can come. There’s no enattempt fee or anything like that, and it’s a beautiful way that we can receive to display our neighborhood and our church.”
For more information on Broadmeadow, scan the QR code in the document below.
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