church

From 1928, the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, TN grew from a suburban church plant of 24 to a large urban congregation with four Sunday AM services, two Sunday Schools, five church plants, and all-time high records in 2001 in Sunday School (1419), Sunday AM worship (1855), and membership (1806).  With the building capacity maxed out and the property landlocked, in 2001 leaders privately investigated an alternate property for the purpose of relocation.  By 2003, the relocation discussion went public and the congregation voted to move.  Nine years after the initial investigations, the Highland Church of Christ re-launched in a new facility on forty acres in a suburban location. 

Almost everything that could go wrong during a church relocation did go wrong with ours.  Yet, many things also went right.  In the previous series of posts, I explored that which went wrong–the things we regret about our relocation journey.  In this series, I’ll explore what went right–the things we rejoice in about our relocation journey.

#4 – Increased Ministry Involvement/Leadeship

During Highland’s highest periods of growth, I remember several conversations with potential new members that went something like this: “I love Highland.  But I don’t think I’d be needed here.  You already have so many talented people.”  Gifted individuals perceived they weren’t needed and would have a place to serve.  But during our relocation journey all of that changed.  We suddenly became the church where every person was needed and every gift required.  If you could breath and blink, we could put you to work.

Read More »Church on the Move (Part 4): 10 Reasons We Rejoice in Relocating

From 1928, the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, TN grew from a suburban church plant of 24 to a large urban congregation with four Sunday AM services, two Sunday Schools, five church plants, and all-time high records in 2001 in Sunday School (1419), Sunday AM worship (1855), and membership (1806).  With the building capacity maxed out and the property landlocked, in 2001 leaders privately investigated an alternate property for the purpose of relocation.  By 2003, the relocation discussion went public and the congregation voted to move.  Nine years after the initial investigations, the Highland Church of Christ re-launched in a new facility on forty acres in a suburban location. 

Almost everything that could go wrong during a church relocation did go wrong with ours.  Yet, many things also went right.  In this series of posts, I’ll explore that which went wrong–the things we regret about our relocation journey.  In the next series, I’ll explore what went right–the things we rejoice in about our relocation journey.

#3 – It revealed our quickness to complain.

The difficulty of the journey revealed the selfish side of us which was quick to complain when things didn’t go our way.  Complaining within the congregation spiked three times: upon publicly announcing the decision to relocate, during our transition from our permanent building to temporary facilities, and during the transition into the new facility.  We were like the Israelites in the desert groaning that we should have stayed in Egypt.  Even when we proposed changing our schedule by 30 minutes to better accommodate guests, complaints poured in.  It’s just like when my family has moved from one house to another–we get cranky and snap at each other even where there’s no real reason.

Read More »Church on the Move: 11 Things We Regret About Relocating (Part 2)

From 1928, the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, TN grew from a suburban church plant of 24 to a large urban congregation with four Sunday AM services, two Sunday Schools, five church plants, and all-time high records in 2001 in Sunday School (1419), Sunday AM worship (1855), and membership (1806).  With the building capacity maxed out and the property landlocked, in 2001 leaders privately investigated an alternate property for the purpose of relocation.  By 2003, the relocation discussion went public and the congregation voted to move.  Nine years after the initial investigations, the Highland Church of Christ re-launched in a new facility on forty acres in a suburban location. 

Almost everything that could go wrong during a church relocation did go wrong with ours.  Yet, many things also went right.  In this series of posts, I’ll explore that which went wrong–the things we regret about our relocation journey.  In the next series, I’ll explore what went right–the things we rejoice in about our relocation journey.

#1 – We regret that the journey was more difficult than we had anticipated.  When an internal task force in 2001 first recommended relocation, we could have never anticipated the cost of embracing that recommendation. Read More »Church on the Move: 11 Things We Regret About Relocating (Part 1)