Just a few blocks from our church is the Mission Hills United Methodist Church, a lovely building on the corner of Ft. Stockton and Lark.  Their church was founded in 1915, just 3 years after Mission Hills UCC (then known as Mission Hills Congregational.)  Our church Council minutes from 1932 share that the Methodist Church was “encumbered with mortgage and debts” and some of their members approached our Council with the proposal to combine churches, – “sharing the religious responsibility of this community.”  Our church was willing to consider this and approached the Congregational general conference.  Despite the fact that we also had financial struggles during those years (mid-1930’s), there seems to have been no serious attempt to join the congregations.    Today, we are happy to say that we are “sharing the religious responsibility of the community” through occasional joint programs.  We recently worked together to sponsor an anti-gun violence vigil in Pioneer Park and are currently joining together for a 4-week grief support group.