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 For several years members of our church have envisioned building a Columbarium on our church grounds. Because the concept is new to many of our members, we are publishing this brochure to familiarize, to answer questions, and to announce the availability of Columbarium spaces.
The concept was approved by our Board of Trustees. Our Administrative Board approved the overall detailed plan and authorized its construction.
The Columbarium is in two sections at the rear of our present church yard garden. It is enclosed by a low brick wall for privacy, but without a "closed-in" feeling. Each section is accessed by an attractive iron-grate gate bearing the motif of a cross. Each internment niche is covered by a beautiful granite face plate on which the names and dates of birth and death of the deceased are to be engraved.
The Memorial Walkway is of matching brick with granite plaques, inserted bearing the names of those memorialized. The center of each section is an attractive planter housing living plants. The Memorial Tablets are established at the ends of the planters. The sides of the planters also bear benches for meditation and prayer.
At all times the Columbarium will be a dignified place of peace and beauty, an asset to our church and a fitting memorial to its departed love ones. Internment niches and memorial plaques remain available to our members and their families.
Simply described, it is a wall of niches for urns that contain the cremated ashes of loved ones. The reservation of niches, like the reservation of cemetery plots, makes the Columbarium self-perpetuating and permanently maintained.
The Walkway exists, hand in hand with the Columbarium, as its floor where members may honor the memory of those buried elsewhere.
These are granite tablets on the walls of the interior planters where the names of memorialized members are affixed on bronze plaques.
The Columbarium is self-sustaining, financed by a "Columbarium Fund" entirely separate and apart from our church's other finances.
Niches in the Columbarium walls are reserved by member of the church in the same way that cemetery plots are reserved. With the reservation of a niche, the members receive a folder containing the following:
- A copy of the reservation contract
- A copy of the Rules and Operating Procedures
- A certificate acknowledging the reservation and indicating the specific niche and its location
Plaques in the Memorial Walkway and names inscribed on the Memorial Tablets are recognized after donations to the Columbarium Fund.
The church is responsible for the permanent maintenance of the Columbarium and its Memorial Walkway and Tablets.
After costs of construction and provision for permanent maintenance are met, any funds further generated accrue yearly to our church.
There are 360 Columbarium niches. Each niche holds one or two cremation urns. Niches are available only to members of Edenton Street United Methodist Church and their families. The reservation price of each niche is $1,600 for either one or two urns. The price includes the engraving of names and dates of birth and death for each inurned person. There is no additional charge for opening and closing the niches.
For those who do not wish to make a full lump sum payment upon reservation of a niche, there is an installment plan whereby a niche may be reserved by an initial payment of $400, the remainder to be paid in increments of $400 over a period of three (3) years, plus a surcharge of $40.00 per year.
Plaques in the Memorial Walkway for persons interred elsewhere may be obtained upon donation to the Columbarium Fund of $500 or more.
Names may be affixed to the Memorial Tablets for persons interred elsewhere upon donation to the Columbarium Fund of $250 or more.
Reservation of Columbarium niches and arrangements for plaques and names may be made by application to the church office. Eligibility for use of niches, memorial walkway plaques and memorial tablets are specified in the Policy and Operating Rules of the Columbarium.
First and most important: We believe that interment on church grounds is a statement of our faith in the resurrection, the life everlasting and the church triumphant. We believe that interment within the church grounds is a doubly appropriate last resting place for the earthly remains of those who in life loved the church.
The Columbarium setting is somewhat an update of an old-time church cemetery. It better allows both for maintenance and for ease of visitation. It also can be a serene spot for meditation and prayer.
Practically speaking, cemetery plots become increasingly remote and difficult to reach. Also, the comparison of the costs of a traditional cemetery burial and a Columbarium internment reveals a substantial financial advantage of a Columbarium.
Any further information you may need may be obtained from the church office, or you may contact our Business Administrator, Dan Johnson, at 832-7535 (ext. 211)
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