Emmaus Blog

Wednesday, January 15, 2025: Announcement for Our Potential Move - and we need your comments now!

Dear Sisters and Brothers of Emmaus: On Monday Linda, Marcie and David visited with Lindsey Kerr, the Pastor of Christ Church Methodist in Santa Rosa in order to assess whether moving to Christ Church for our liturgies would be advantageous for all of us at Emmaus. Many of us have worked with Lindsey and consider her to be an excellent leader who is courageous and energetic.

We received a warm welcome from Lindsey who showed us around Christ Church and opened the room in which we may meet. It’s not in the church – but an unused classroom that’s part of the larger set of buildings in the complex.

The room has space enough for us, lots of windows and some storage. They are buying new tables for the room. The room used to be a classroom so there’s plenty of room for our celebrations. Because it was a classroom, there’s also potential for hanging posters and making it our own.

There’s a sink in the room and we would have full access to the kitchen in the central building which is a short walk away. In thinking about moving there, we thought it a good idea to buy a microwave and coffeemaker for the room.

The room is equipped with excellent WIFI so we can continue to Zoom without interruption.

There’s a nice outdoor area where we can hold celebrations and barbecue should we like to do that. There’s a Pentecostal Fijian group that meets in the church on Sunday afternoons that may present an interesting opportunity to meet new people.

Christ Church is a hub of social justice activities. There are several offices in use by the North Bay Organizing Project and other service organizations. Lindsey Kerr is welcoming us as she knows we share many of the same values and commitments.

Here’s some information about Christ Church:

The location of Christ Church is 1717 Yulupa Ave. Santa Rosa, CA 95405. It’s close to the intersection of Hoen and Yulupa.

Here’s a link to their website and a couple of statements from their website:

https://www.srchristchurch.org/

SERVICE

We live out our faith by serving our wider community. Whether it's with our food pantry, community garden, or any number of other organizations, members of Christ Church United Methodist are living out our faith in the world!

WITNESS

We witness to our faith by working to transform the world. Christ Church United Methodist is committed to the work of anti-racism, immigration reform, climate action, and social justice. We are a proud member of the North Bay Organizing Project.

Next Steps:

Linda, Marcie and David discussed the potential move after our visit with Lindsey. It seems like an excellent fit for our Emmaus community. We will pay the same rent we're paying now at Knox - $500 per month.

At our last celebration, it was announced that the folks at Knox are asking for a 50% increase in our rent – taking it from $500 per month to $750. They are asking for the increase due to the cost of maintenance and utilities. We know utilities are ever increasing and I think we should expect to pay more in 2026.

There are two issues here: Issue 1. We were not invited to participate in any discussions about raising our rent. They asked for the rent increase on December 20th with new rent due January 1st. The board and many members think that was an unreasonable request and not a very kind way to ask for more money.

The Second issue: We have always dedicated the major portion of our collections to support nonprofits: our local nonprofits, and others within the US, and internationally. I think we all agree that it’s important to keep honoring that commitment. By moving to Christ Church we maintain our current rent and have more money to support worthy nonprofits.

The question: As a board we are committed to the move – and to making a new home at Christ Church in February. As this is a community decision we need your feedback to the idea of moving our location to Christ Church. It seemed from our last liturgy that most people were enthusiastic about the idea. Your board members are asking that you provide any comments you may have about the potential move.

Please contact any one of us via phone, email or text by next Sunday, the 19th of January.

Thank you all for your support,

Denise

Denise Dixon, Chairperson:

(707) 695-2244

Email: denise@miralee.com

Marcie Dahlen, Vice Chairperson

(303) 330-2804

Email: marciedahlen@me.com

Linda Wildman, Secretary Treasurer

(707) 321-9538

Email: dawildmans@gmail.com