What It’s Like Founding A Church In Charlotte, NC, The Queen City?
Establishing a church in Charlotte is an unique experience. We were cautioned before we came that the Queen City has an unique religious character that has proved overwhelming to many people. There is simply so much church around, so many surely distinguished practitioners, preachers and leaders, so much spiritual endeavor, so much spiritual history, so many amazing stories of God’s work (like what has taken place via Billy Graham and his organization) and some comparably wonderful and well known disasters, from which all too public embarrassments the city is still blushing. So you know that you are not going to have an inconsiderable ride.as if planting is ever likely to be such easy.
But there is no doubt that Charlotte is an unique city to plant in. It’s Christian legacy makes it in some ways a friendly place to create a new congregation. People have no distress or embarrassment in talking concerning things spiritual. In fact, even unprompted you are likely to be asked where you harmonize, or what denomination you are part of. It’s as natural as talking about a game of football, or expressing where you want to shop. And in a thousand ways the Christian ancestry of the Queen City makes it a mannerly and polished place to live. There is a residue of good will and a deep comprehension of what churches do, that makes the job in countless ways much simpler.
But on the other hand, it is easy to get swamped in the myriad options any would be seeker of a new spiritual home can find within a mile or so of their personal home. It is easy to get sucked in to seeing other congregations as ‘the competition,’ and each new plant in your area becomes an aggression of your district (and there have been many ever since we came a mere four years ago). Its easy to feel like you’re running a spiritual store that has to look better, feel better, arrange a more excellent product than the one just down the road, or you will lose your customers. And it is all very easy to slip in to thinking about people as commodities, or numbers that are either being added to you or subtracted. Conversations in meetings can begin to simulate any other classification of business, with talk of how to market to promising visitors better, how to expand on existing ‘business,’ targets and goals, and how to make sure the stock holders (I mean, the parish council) are happy with the progress figures.
But overall it has been a wonderful experience and a privilege to be able to live and work in the Queen City. It is big enough to be considered a true city, with just plenty cultural activity to keep everyone immersed, but small enough not to suffer most of the problems of the great world cities, like impossible parking and hideously high property prices. And then there’s the weather. Who cares how things are going when the sun shines most days, and you are surrounded by graceful trees reaching up towards an astonishing blue sky. There could be much worse places to be doing what we are doing now!
To learn more about how you can find a great church in Charlotte, it’s important to hear from others who have successfully found church homes. Check out the following link and you’ll be taken to City Church Charlotte for helpful information from a local Christian leader, Matthew Hemsley.
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