Dear members and friends of Franklin United Methodist Church,
As most of you are aware, we have been watching a series of loose acoustic tiles on the sanctuary ceiling. For the last seven months, the Resource Committee has been in dialogue with our insurance company. A claim was made for the ceiling. The claim against the ceiling was denied; however, upon inspection, the insurance company made a new claim and is now covering the replacement of the church roof. A contractor has been hired to replace the roof, I anticipate work to begin soon. Yesterday, the ceiling tiles decided to fall. No additional damage was done to the church. No one was hurt. But, there is a big mess. The air is musty and thick in the sanctuary.
I have been in correspondence with the insurance company. I have sent them pictures. They have agreed to reconsider our initial claim. I hope to hear back from them in the next week or so. In the meantime, the sanctuary will be closed.
This Sunday we will be worshipping in-the-round in the vestry. Personally, this is my favorite seating arrangement for worship. For those worshipping with us online (via Google Meet or our live stream), you may notice a difference in the audio quality (especially for the hymns). You can find worship information for this Sunday (7/2/23), here. Note: I’m looking for a volunteer to make lemonade and coffee to be served during and after worship.
We will get the ceiling fixed as quickly as possible. It is a big job that will entail partial disassembly and wrapping of our historic organ. The total cost to repair the sanctuary ceiling is approximately $65,000. If you would like to make a special donation to help offset the cost of this repair, checks can be made out to the Franklin United Methodist Church, put “Capital Improvement Fund” on the check’s memo line. If you’d like to make a general donation to the church using PayPal, click here. Every donation helps.
Thank you all for your patience; and, most importantly, thank you for your on-going support. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call, text, or email.
Peace.
Pastor Jacob
P.S. — I learned something this week–another local fact that makes our church unique. We have the ONLY fully mechanical organ in the Town of Franklin.
P.S.S. — We are looking at doing several capital improvements over the next few years. You can learn more about the proposed projects and how we will “define our generation,” here.
