As we announced during a recent worship gathering, Good Shepherd has added a new campus effective July 1, 2013.
What Does It Mean? However, that is not the model we are implementing at the Zoar Road Campus.
The former Zoar United Methodist Church is now the Zoar Road Campus of Good Shepherd Church.
How did this happen and what does it mean for our congregation?
How It Happened
For several years Zoar United Methodist Church, which sits on seven acres at the intersection of Zoar Church Road and Thomas Road in the far southeastern corner of Steele Creek . . .
. . . has been faced with from declining attendance and dwindling resources. The possibility of ceasing its operations and closing its doors loomed large.
Instead of closure, however, the Metro District of the United Methodist Church approached the Board of Good Shepherd and asked if we would absorb Zoar’s property, people, and finances into the ministry of our church. After two months of due diligence and prayer, the Board voted unanimously to align with Zoar and thus create the Zoar Road Campus of Good Shepherd Church.
Many of you have heard of churches around the country who go “multi-site” by finding a venue, hiring a band, assigning children’s workers, and beaming the pastor’s sermons from the “home” site into the new campus. That model has worked well for many churches.
Instead, we are developing the site as an Outreach Center first. We will use the facilities and the property to house some of our existing outreach ministries and as a launching pad for new ones.
The Zoar Campus is the first of what we hope will be several Radical Impact Sites located throughout our region where our focus is not on launching worship but on building community.
We will use the Zoar Chapel as a venue for a Sunday morning LifeGroup (meets at 10:30 a.m.), serving the needs of both nearby residents and long-term Zoar worshippers. In the upcoming months, we will have multiple opportunities for the people of Good Shepherd to be involved in using the Zoar Road Campus as a venue for inviting all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
So please keep this Sunday, July 7, covered in prayers as we celebrate two initiatives on the same day: the new sermon series, The Storm Before The Calm, and the move of our church to multi-site, Good Shepherd style.