For the Next generation at FPCF

In 1979, a committee was established at the First Presbyterian Church of Flint to assess whether the church should relocate from downtown Flint to the suburbs. At the time, concerns about rising crime rates, a declining population in Flint, and budgetary concerns had generated some interest in relocation. 

After a year of prayer, study, and discussion with parishioners the ‘746 Committee’ returned its final recommendation: FPCF should stay downtown and remain here in the city of Flint. Instead of building a new building elsewhere, our congregation decided to invest the equivalent of $15 million dollars today to expand and improve our downtown facility. 

What emerged from that 1984 expansion were several essential spaces for the life and ministry of our congregation: The lower level became a haven for our middle and high school students, the second floor provided a fabulous rehearsal space for our choirs and music ministries, on the first floor, a church library was established to provide resources to the congregation, and an office complex provided space for the church staff to work. 

In the 40 years since they were established, countless individuals have been profoundly shaped by these spaces as they served on the church staff, as choir members, or as students in the Pipe Youth Ministry. They have served our congregation well for a generation, but, 40 years later, they struggle to keep up with the way our church’s ministries are changing and expanding. 

• Our growing youth ministry has an exciting vision of establishing a dynamic, hospitable, safe, and inclusive space for middle and high school students with diverse interests and personalities to encounter the love of Christ, but the present condition of the lower level is inadequately laid out, unsafe, and unwelcoming.

• Our music ministry is committed to welcoming more choristers while supporting an eclectic range of choral, vocal, and instrumental opportunities in worship, but our present space is inaccessible and in need of major repair and reorganization. 

• Our community ministry here in Flint is already providing birth certificates, drivers’ licenses, and other identity reclamation needs for people climbing out of poverty, and every single week we welcome hundreds of phone calls, and dozens of appointments with our full-time social worker to get people on their way to their next chapter, but our social worker’s office is barely larger than a closet.

• Our office staff is working more closely and collaboratively than we ever have in the past, and we love the opportunity to plan and dream and work to achieve our ministry visions together, but our presenty office space is laid out with different priorities and norms.

In short, the vision we have for our congregation’s future is colliding with our present facility space and to move forward, we need another courageous commitment to being a downtown congregation, a commitment to the next forty years.

The For the Next Generation campaign detailed in this booklet looks to (1) significantly enhance and improve our physical plant for mission, accessibility, safety, and efficiency; (2) to make a courageous investment in the next generation of youth in our community and at FPCF; (3) to expand and develop our church’s historic commitment to music and the arts; and (4) to better resource and support our transformative community ministry efforts here in Flint. 

We will accomplish this through a transformational renovation of our lower level youth ministry space, and a creative and fresh restructuring of our office, library, and music rehearsal spaces. In pursuing this goal, our campaign is focused on making it possible for our facility to be a catalyst for mission, growth and outreach as a congregation. 

Success in this campaign will not only honor our historical commitment to our location in the city of Flint but will also embrace our a vision of the future, ensuring that our congregation remains a beacon of hope and compassion for the next generation.

Above all, however, we believe that these important renovation efforts will enable us to be more faithful to our calling as a church bearing witness to Jesus Christ here in downtown Flint. We are excited to see all that God will do in the hearts and lives of our congregation and community as this vision takes shape.