St. Luke's United Methodist Church

The ‘St. Luke’s/Oak Park Merger’ Section

St. Luke’s and Oak Park UM’s formally became one during a special charge conference of both congregations on Dec. 18. Members of both churches voted unanimously to merge, and legal details are now set to be finished by Dec. 31.

That meeting was followed by a Service of Deconsecration at Oak Park’s burned facility two hours later. The former Oak Park Church is now formally closed and demolition workers have already set to work. The property — including the church sanctuary, a school building and a fellowship hall — will be leveled soon.

The congregations agreed to the merger terms recommended by a committee of three members from each church. A one page listing of those terms will be available soon on this site.

A potential merger between St. Luke’s and Oak Park United Methodist Church will be the highlight of business to be discussed during St. Luke’s annual Charge Conference on Oct. 20.

Corpus Christi District Superintendent Eradio Valverde will be presiding the meeting in the church sanctuary beginning at 7 p.m.

“All who are interested in this historic meeting are certainly welcome,” St. Luke’s Pastor Pamela Dykehouse told the congregation during worship services on Oct. 16.

Both congregations have formally indicated that they are interested in working together on a merger in recent weeks, and the Oct. 20 meeting will be an opportunity for St. Luke’s members to give their official consent to begin working out the details of what several have called a “marriage” between the two churches.

After the St. Luke’s Charge Conference agrees to the merger, a committee of six people (three from each church) would then be appointed by clergy and lay leaders from both churches. That group would then begin the month’s long process of ironing out a myriad of details involved with merger.

This merger has been brewing since March of 2011 when Oak Park’s sanctuary was destroyed by a fire. Oak Park members have since been worshiping each Sunday in the St. Luke’s chapel, and the Oak Park congregation voted in its own Charge Conference in August not to rebuild its sanctuary.

Members of Oak Park UMC have formally requested a merger with St. Luke’s, Pastor Pamela Dykehouse told St. Luke’s parishioners during Sunday Services on September 25.

Oak Park’s members voted to make the request during a Charge Conference meeting on September 21, and it comes after the St. Luke’s Church Council unanimously agreed in its August meeting to invite a merger with Oak Park.

Talk of a possible merger has been brewing since March when a fire destroyed Oak Park’s sanctuary and St. Luke’s began hosting Oak Park’s regular Sunday services in its chapel. Now that official bodies of both churches have formally expressed interest in a merger, “there is still plenty to talk about” in regard to details of the potential partnership, Rev. Dykehouse said during the Sept. 25 services.

The St. Luke’s congregation is now set discuss the merger, and possibly formally agree to it, during its regularly scheduled annual Charge Conference on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.