An Organization Without Borders
Over the past couple of years, the Virginia United Methodist Development Company (DevCo) has partnered with the United Methodist Development Fund in Texas (UMDF) to serve the needs of churches throughout Virginia. Recently, we worked with the UMDF to participate in 50% of the principal loan to fund a $1.2 million parsonage. This partnership enabled the pastor at Chesterbrook United Methodist Church to cut his commute time by over an hour and allow the pastor to be more accessible to the congregation and local community. The United Methodist organization has given new meaning to the phrase, “Methodists Helping Methodists,” in expanding beyond its Virginia borders and now, other foundations have become our partners, as part of their strategy model to serve the needs of churches across the country. DevCo has become an organization without borders!
The partnership that we have with UMDF helps us to increase our resources to continue to do valuable work in uplifting God’s Kingdom! The staff at DevCo takes tremendous pride in assisting Virginia churches to strive for stronger ministries. We understand and share church leadership’s vision of seeking the best ways to save money and reinvest those funds back into the ministries and communities. In other words, with a partner such as UMDF, DevCo will continue to work with churches in achieving their goals and dreams of opportunities. Although we depend on the investments of churches and members to help fund many of our loans, we recognize that there are times when partnerships with other foundations creates another way to sufficiently meet the loan demands of our Virginia churches. When Methodists invest in DevCo, they create a “win-win” situation by receiving favorable interest rates, as well as making a significant impact relating to the needs of growing Virginia ministries!
As United Methodist Churches continue to grow their ministries, we are thankful to have UMDF working closely with us in pursuit of our journey of spreading the “gospel through service.” The future of churches depends on our success of reaching more people and helping those in need. If we continue to work together with other foundations across this great country, we can renew our efforts of sustaining stronger United Methodist ministries!