Church Visit, "Community Involvement," Jackson Center UMC

Jackson Center UMC recently dedicated a new community center, a refurbished warehouse about a block away from their traditional church site. Some said it needed to be torn down. Old fashioned hard work and ingenuity turned it into a seniors' center, banquet facility, conference center, after school program site, and fitness center for the community. They remodeled it all virtually themselves with community volunteers. A gift for the community it was built by the community. Everyone got involved. City officials really wanted it to work so they did their best in supporting the effort and getting it through government hoops. City workers stopped by after work to pitch in too. The grand opening was a "gala affair" of "who's who" in J.C. Even and, one might say, especially in a small town, people responded to a vision, one that wasn't self-serving but community-serving, that actually fulfilled some real needs and wasn't just to get people in the door and help the church. The folks at Jackson Center UMC helped the community fulfill a long held dream.