The United Methodist Church Of Mishawaka, Indiana

Coalbush United Methodist Church is in Mishawaka, Indiana. The Indiana Conference church development team selected Coalbush as a strategic location for potential growth. The church is located right off of the US 20 bypass on the south side of Mishawaka. The city is slowly moving out toward the country, which is how this church views itself: a country church. Mishawaka is not predicted to experience great growth in the next ten years with the make up of a household having little change either. The majority of the people are Anglo-American with little diversity. This is a somewhat traditional community where the majority of people report a sense of well-being. The average household income is approximately $60,000. The largest age group is between 35-55 years old. I was appointed to Coalbush beginning July 1, 2016. I have been observing and serving as I attempt to discover the unique context and setting for this local church in this season of their very long history. The church mission and passion has been stalled for the last few years. The Coalbush United Methodist Church entered a program about five years ago to help them evaluate their fruitfulness and effectiveness of the church. It was determined that too much time was spent in meetings and not enough time actually doing ministry. The church went through a three-year process of attempting to restructure and lessen the many other committees of the church. Missions, Outreach, Assimilation,