Five years ago, Living Word Church had dwindled to 40 members, had lost its founding pastor and was unable to pack more than about 80 people into its 280-seat sanctuary and unsure of the future.
Now, it’s part of one of the nation’s largest megachurches””and could serve as a model for the thousands of small U.S. churches that are closed every year.
“The story’s pretty amazing,” said the Rev. Layne Schranz, associate pastor at Church of the Highlands, a Birmingham megachurch that attracts an average of more than 13,500 across its six campuses.
Our law firm is working on one of these right now. Growing evangelical non-denominational church, presently meeting in a high school gym, acquiring the facilities of an aging and dwindling mainline church (UCC). The evangelical church will be the surviving entity in the merger and there will be a new community church for folks to attend.