Passers by of the First Presbyterian Church on Morton Hill in Benton Harbor likely have no clue that the actual front door to the building is on the back side along Green Avenue. If the church's youth group has anything to say about that, the church will not only have a larger, much improved front door, but an increased attraction and ability to serve the community.
The First Presbyterian Church youth group — ICE (In Christ Eternally) — will host a fundraiser next Sunday for the church's campaign to enlarge and enhance its building as the congregation prepares next year to mark 125 years on Morton Hill.
ICE is a youth group of middle and high school students, and they plan to don aprons and serve a homemade-soup-and-bread dinner beginning about noon next Sunday, November 20th. The supper will follow the church’s normal 10am service that Sunday.
The fundraiser will advance First Presbyterian’s Open Wide Our Front Door campaign as it nears the halfway mark to raise $800,000. The Open Wide campaign began early this year and by late October had achieved about 42-percent of the goal in pledges and cash in hand. One anonymous donor couple has pledged $180,000 over three years, including a current pledge of $10,000 to match other contributions dollar for dollar through Dec. 31.
The church is planning to make the building improvements without taking out a mortgage.
First Presbyterian has been on Morton Hill since 1892. Its current building was built in 1962 and is cramped, even for the small congregation with an official census of 76 members. The weekly attendance of members and non-members averages around 62. One impetus for building an addition to the front of the building is the influx in recent years of middle high youth, due largely to the church’s Summer Youth Leadership program.
Other Presbyterian churches in the area, and congregations from other denominations, have made pledges or contributions to boost the Open Wide effort for the Benton Harbor church, which has members from a wide economic spectrum who cannot totally fund the work themselves.
Architect Arunas Rumsa of Tera Architects in Benton Harbor has designed an addition for the little-used Green Avenue side of the building, which is actually the front. The design will greatly improve the internal traffic flow of the building, give more room for gatherings off the sanctuary and, at the same time, solve longstanding structural roof problems.
The Morton Hill church is 35-percent African-American, making it one of the few truly multiracial congregations in Southwest Michigan. The congregation remained on Morton Hill through the white flight of the 1960s and ‘70s.
Racial reconciliation is one of the church’s prime missions. Partnerships with such organizations as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton Harbor, the Fresh Start Children’s Garden and Harbor Habitat for Humanity, among many others, are another focus of the congregation. The church for more than a decade has served a supper every Thursday at 6pm for anyone who comes. It also has an arts ministry, embodied in the annual ArtsBridge series of combination concert-and-visual arts-programs. ArtsBridge started its sixth season in October.
Morton Hill is a geographically and historically distinct neighborhood on a bluff overlooking downtown Benton Harbor and the Arts District. First Presbyterian Church is located next to the oldest building in the city, the Morton House Museum, built in 1849 as a home for the pioneering Morton family. The church is across the street from Morton School and two blocks away from Territorial Road, a former Indian path which, beginning in the 1830s, brought pioneers to western Michigan and served as the east-west route connecting Benton Harbor and the Lake Michigan shoreline with the new city of Detroit.
The suggested donation for a ticket for the November 20th fundraising dinner is $8, either at the door or in advance. People will have a choice of four homemade soups, including vegetarian and vegan options. Desserts are $1 extra. Julie Brien, First Presbyterian’s youth director, is in charge of ticket sales. Her phone number is 248-931-2402, and her email address is godspecialkid@gmail.com.
The Lutheran-based Thrivent Financial is helping to underwrite the cost of putting on the dinner.
If you'd like to learn more about the Open Wide campaign, click on First Presbyterian’s website below:
