On 01 July, 2002, Providence United Methodist Church officially became a "Blended Parish" with the Fort Washington United Methodist Family.  This was the first step on our way for the two Congregations to become merged into a single Family.

Over several months an exploratory committee made up of leaders from both churches,  met and mutually agreed to recommend that Providence and Fort Washington merge together for richer and stronger ministry for our Lord. Both congregations held discussion meetings and approved the merger idea.  Each Administrative Council approved the plan to merge.   A joint Charge Conference convened on Wednesday, 29 May, 2002 as called for by our District Superintendent, and passed the motion "that  Fort Washington United Methodist Church and Providence United Methodist Church officially become a Blended Parish to complete the full merger  of  their  two churches  and  all  their  organized  parts  as  quickly  as possible, but no later  than  01 December, 2002."   The  vote  of  the  Joint  Charge Conference was 33 "yes" and 0  "no."

This meant:

               Reverend Ronald Collier and Reverend Robert E. Bavender (pastors at that time of Fort Washington and

               Providence United Methodist  Churchs  respectively)  would  both  be  Pastors  of  the  Blended  Parish.

               The Providence and Fort Washington Administrative Councils combined to serve as the Parish Council. 

               Oren Mangrum was elected to serve as Chairperson of  the Joint Council and  Pat Day was elected as

               Secretary.

               The Joint Council elected a  Steering  Committee  of  eight members from each congregation, plus the

               Pastors, to work out the details of the merger. 

               The Providence Committee members were:

                                                                                      Paul Drews

                                                                                      Shirley Gillespie

                                                                                      Sandy McCall

                                                                                      Billie Shaddix

                                                                                      Lucy Shaddix

                                                                                      Bruce Strachan

                                                                                      Laurene Walker

                                                                                      Charles Weaver

               The Fort Washington Committee members were: 

                                                                                      Loraine Dameron

                                                                                      Dale Kirkland

                                                                                      Oren Mangrum

                                                                                      Kelly Markomanolakis

                                                                                      Ray Rice

                                                                                      Fred Wineland

                                                                                      Dwight Short

                                                                                      Paul  Ledford

“The   Holy  Spirit  has  been  at  work,”    said    the Rev.   Robert  Bavender,   who   with  the  Rev.  Ron Collier   has   pastored  the congregations    through the  changes.

The  process  of   blending  started   two  years  ago

when   the   joint  United   Methodist   Men’s   group

raised the idea of merger.  Washington East District superintendent, the Rev. Mary Jane Coleman, conducted a joint Charge Conference, which approved  the merger of  the  two congregations.

June 25, 2003

ACROSS THE

CONFERENCE

Two congregations become one

On-line

VOL. 14  NO. 12

FORT   WASHINGTON  –  The   blended   parish   of   the  former Providence  UMC  and  Fort  Washington  UMC  began  meeting as one  congregation  in  January  and  was  made official  at  annual conference.   The  charter  for   the  new  church  will   date  back to 1870 when  Providence  UMC,  the  new  congregation’s  home,  was  founded.

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The  combined  church  school  opened  its  new  education  building Sept. 1.  The blended congregation  has  approximately  230  members.

“It’s been an absolutely unbelievable move, to move so quickly and so cooperatively together,”  Bavender  said.

It

was   then   approved   at   Annual   Conference   Session   in   2002.

"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual."  --  Vince Lombardi