Photo by Lina Renaud. Rev. Dick Rinearson tells the children about building faith for the future as part of the worship service that was followed by the ground breaking for Dickinson UMC's new building.

Sunday, April 23, Dickinson UMC broke ground for a new church home. Several years ago Dickinson UMC began dreaming about a new place to worship. “This has been a process of dreaming and planning for over twenty years,” said Rev. Dick Rinearson, Dickinson UMC, “Many people on the building committee have been put a lot of effort into this with different plans and different ideas. This is really their day.”

Bishop Bruce R. Ough, resident bishop for the Dakotas-Minnesota Area, was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony.  “This is truly a glorious moment for Dickinson UMC and the Dakotas Conference,” said Ough.  

Photo: Bishop Bruce R. Ough (right), Dakotas-Minnesota Area talks wearing his hard hat at the ground breaking ceremony of Dickinson UMC.  Photo by Linda Renaud.

The day began with a church service in the current building.  The service included a history of the church, several musical numbers, a children’s sermon and liturgy lead by the youth. Ough delivered the sermon of encouragement and challenged the congregation to live into the future. The Bishop was presented a hard hat as part of the children’s sermon.

Rev. Kermit Culver, Sakakawea district superintendent, attended and shared some of the history. Dickinson UMC began as Gladstone UMC in at a building site several miles east of Dickinson, North Dakota. Gladstone was the first protestant church formed west of the Missouri River in 1883.  In 1917, the congregation moved into the town of Dickinson to the current structure. Soil from the Gladstone church site and the current church site were spread at the groundbreaking. The new building will incorporate some of the stained glass windows from the 1917 structure.

At the conclusion of the service there was a caravan of buses and cars, led by a police escort, to the site of the new church building, at West 21st Street, in the northwest corner of Dickinson.  People gathered and released balloons. The balloons were a symbol of God’s faithfulness and the church’s dream for the future of “Moving Faithward.”

Photo: Balloons were launched to signify the launching of "Faithward" and the future home of Dickinson UMC. Photo by Linda Renaud.

The $3.5 million project is a two-stage building process. Stage one; the multi-purpose area with classrooms and office space will be completed by September of 2018. The second stage of the building project will be a new sanctuary and will be completed after stage one is built.

The new church building is located across the street from the new Dickinson Middle School, to be completed the fall of 2017.  “We are excited about the location,” said Rev. Dick Rinearson, Dickinson UMC. “We are in a growing part of the city and it is great to be across from the new Middle School.”

“Moving Faithward” has been the theme of the fundraising efforts and the entire project. “We have had very faithful givers and have raised about $2.5 million over the last six years,” said Rinearson. “We are not a congregation that has one person with deep pockets. So everyone had to pull together to give. There is about $300,000 of pledges yet to come in. Over 96% of the pledges have been met or exceeded.”

Photo by Linda Renaud. Youth from Dickinson UMC post the cross and 'Moving Faithward" banner before the ground breaking ceremony begins.

The church is focused on the future and made youth an integral part of the day. Youth wore Dickinson UMC sweatshirts that they had ordered and wore for other events.  They came early to the church and got balloons ready for the balloon launch. They handed out wristbands that said “Moving Faithward” as everyone entered the service.  Youth handed out to children hard hats and little shovels.  The youth parked cars at the building site and put up the wooden cross. The church through the years for special events and services, especially those that involved youth, has used the wooden cross.

“We are still dreaming in Dickinson. We are determined to have building that will reach the needs of the future generations,” stated Rinearson.

Dreamin' in Dickinson from Dakotas UMC on Vimeo.