The Institute was a welcome blessing when it was created, as music, drama, and arts programs were being cut from public schools \u2013 and children, particularly those from low-income households, had nowhere to receive arts education affordably. The Institute was the brainchild of the late music director at the church, Dr. Byrdie Johnson, and the late Rev. Thomas Hall, who was serving as pastor, says Betty Bryant, who was a long-time member of the church.<\/p>\n
The church hoped not-so-secretly that hosting such a program would bring families into church membership. But that didn\u2019t happen \u2013 and while the institute continued to grow and serve more families, the church membership dwindled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never my dream that one would flourish, and the other would die,\u201d Bryant says. \u201cBut that\u2019s what happened, and I am at peace with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Transitions<\/strong><\/p>\n That package of church building plus endowment proceeds is Third-Westminster\u2019s enduring legacy and gift to the local community.<\/p>\n Without that gift, the Institute would not have been able to continue in its current location, which has been its home for more than 25 years, says Alysia Souder<\/a>, executive director of the Institute. \u201cThere was no way to take on that expense and responsibility without the finances to maintain the building,\u201d Souder says. \u201cWith this gift of the remaining endowment, we can supplement that for the next few years until we can build some of the costs of the building into our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Owning the building also relieves the institute of stress. \u201cNot having a facility is a major factor in what makes or breaks an organization,\u201d Souder says. \u201cIt puts your organization in a lot of flux and stress. The fact that we can feel safe here is really a blessing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, owning the building means the Institute can adapt the space as needed, without having to worry about what the church uses the building on Sundays. \u201cWe are working in classrooms that were meant for children\u2019s Bible study,\u201d Souder says. \u201cThey aren\u2019t built as art rooms. Musical instrument storage, practice space, all of that matters for us and is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, though, the Institute has allowed churches to rent space on the property. One church holds services there, and a second has offices in the building. Both of these are signs of respect of the building\u2019s history as a place of worship, Souder says.<\/p>\n Third-Westminster member Donald Schiessl says he\u2019s grateful to the leaders of the former Presbytery of Elizabeth for agreeing to allow the church to give the church building and the church endowment to the Institute. At that time, Cheryl Galan was serving as Executive Presbyter and Jeremy Campbell as Stated Clerk; the Presbytery\u2019s Administrative Commission was chaired by Rev. Chris Belden. (New Jersey\u2019s seven presbyteries were recently restructured into four; now Elizabeth, New Jersey, is part of the \ub274\uc800\uc9c0 \ubd81\ub3d9\ubd80 \ub178\ud68c<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \u201cI was always a big supporter of the program,\u201d Schiessl says. \u201cWe were really helping the community. This was one of the good things we left behind. It was important to keep the Presbytery involved because they were responsible for the building after we left. We have to credit them for agreeing to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving forward<\/strong><\/p>\n Placing the endowment<\/a> with the Presbyterian Foundation allowed the church to make funds available in perpetuity for the Institute.<\/p>\n Bryant says the Session voted to place the endowment with the Foundation because the donor\u2019s wishes would still be honored, and the institute would still be supported. \u201cI feel good about that decision,\u201d Bryant says. \u201cThis is truly the best case scenario to see part of our church continue on.\u201d<\/p>\n The COVID-19 pandemic hit the Institute hard in 2020, Souder says. The organization\u2019s primary fundraiser was canceled, and they lost nearly $200,000 in tuition that was not paid when everything shut down. The institute was able to keep all of its teachers employed, and offered lessons virtually. The stability of the organization during the pandemic was certainly aided by having a building and some funding to maintain it, Souder says.<\/p>\n And it allowed the Institute to concentrate on what it does best: creating harmony. The Institute, Bryant says, is so much more than teaching the arts.<\/p>\n \u201cOur vision is harmony,\u201d Bryant says. \u201cWe are helping achieve responsible, motivated, optimistic neighborhood youth. That\u2019s our goal. We want to service the community, have the children in a safe environment, and use the arts to help the children develop life skills and relate to others. It\u2019s much more than just music.\u201d<\/p>\n \ub85c\ube48 \ub370\uc774\ube44\uc2a4 \uc138\ucfe8\ub77c\ub294 \ucee4\ubba4\ub2c8\ucf00\uc774\uc158 \ubc0f \ub9c8\ucf00\ud305 \ub2f4\ub2f9 \ubd80\uc0ac\uc7a5\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4. <\/em>\uc7a5\ub85c\uad50 \uc7ac\ub2e8<\/em><\/a>. She is a ruling elder in the PC(USA). You can reach her at <\/em>robyn.sekula@presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the early 1990s, Third-Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, N.J., was looking for a way to minister to the local community. They created the Institute of Music for Children in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":11938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DSC_7257-copyp-300x245.jpg\")
In 2017, the congregation\u2019s session decided to close, and leave their assets, including the church building, to the Institute. Third-Westminster had been the recipient of an endowed legacy gift from a member that stipulated the Session could spend the proceeds however it saw fit. That flexibility allowed the Session to vote to direct the proceeds to the Institute to help the organization care for the building.<\/p>\n