Making connections
Two metro-area churches become one.
Aprominent Presbyterian church is 15 miles away from a smaller church in the same denomination, and yet they have never been closer.
Westminster Presbyterian Church at 4400 N Shartel and Connecting Point Presbyterian at 14501 N Rockwell have become one.
The two churches officially joined in May after a vote of approval from the Indian Nations Presbytery, a regional affiliate of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Rev. Paul Kirbas, Westminster’s senior minister, said the recent change isn’t officially called a merger but an “assimilation.”
Kirbas said the idea that the two churches connect began shortly after Connecting Point’s senior pastor, the Rev. Timothy Blodgett, left the metro area to take a pastoral post in the Tulsa area.
He said discussion began in earnest about two years ago to bring the two churches together. Kirbas said he was contacted by a Connecting Point elder who asked that Westminster consider coming together with the smaller
church.
“I’ve always seen a lot of promise and potential here. The resources are here, 20 acres of land, this modern building, 65 members and no debt, but what they did not have is leadership. They wondered if we would be interested in taking all this in as a second campus,” Kirbas said in an interview at Connecting Point.
Kirbas said Laurel Hall, a pastoral intern at Westminster, was sent to serve as campus minister of Connecting Point while discussions regarding the assimilation process continued.
Hall, who plans to graduate from Californiabased Fuller Seminary soon, said the two congregations coming together has been positive. “We called it ‘dating.’ It was a yearlong courtship,” she said.
Kirbas said he had been involved with similar efforts when he served as pastor elsewhere, and there is a trend of churches having multiple campuses or locations. He said it is important to note that Westminster will continue serving at its present location where it has served for many decades. In fact, the picturesque church building is currentlythe focus of a $5 million renovation project. “This is in no way abandoning our ministry at Shartel,” Kirbas said. “It’s not ‘either or’ — it’s ‘both.’”
Kirbas said this summer, the two churches will be testing out some ways to move forward. The Deer Creek area church will be known as Connecting Point, the north campus of Westminster.
Sunday worship services this summer will be at Westminster’s Shartel location, while evening services will be at Connecting Point. Hall said a cookout will be held after Sunday evening services at the smaller church.
Kirbas said he is not sure which members of both congregations will go to which service or whether many will attend both of them. Some may continue as they have always done, but he is sure they will enjoy continuing to get to know one another.
“I think it will be a melting pot of involvement,” Kirbas said.
An evolving history
Connecting Point is the latest evolution of a Nichols Hills congregation that changed locales.
Blodgett led Greystone Presbyterian Church when the congregation decided to sell its building at 8300 Greystone Ave. in Nichols Hills to adjacent Christ the King Catholic Church in 2011. The Catholic church wanted the neighboring church’s property to expand its school.
The Greystone congregation met at a Deer Creek area school and a hotel for a time and eventually purchased property in the far north metro area where a new church building was built. The church eventually changed its name from Greystone to Connecting Point.
The church is currently on Rockwell Avenue, between Memorial Road and NW 150.
Hall said Connecting Point had supply pastors preach between the time Blodgett left and the time she was appointed as campus minister there.
The church has a core group of about eight people who have been part of the congregation since it was Greystone Presbyterian.
She said both churches
voted in favor of the assimilation. As part of Westminster’s assimilation of Connecting Point, the smaller church was formally dissolved as a church.
Hall said an important aspect of the venture was that Connecting Point be allowed to keep its name. She said new signage pointing to its new relationship to Westminster will be installed soon.
A future together
The two churches bring different things to the table.
Westminster is the larger of the two. Kirbas said the church has about 1,800 members, and Sunday morning worship attendance fluctuates on average between 400 and 450 people. Hall said Connecting Point hosts an average of 60 people on Sunday mornings. She said the sanctuary seats about 90 people, though, and more seating may be added if needed, through certain design features.
Both Kirbas and Hall said the smaller church is in a prime location, where the metro-area housing development is increasing, along with new retail and other amenities.
“We think we will be able to reach a whole new community,” Kirbas said. “The fact that we have this whole 20 acres to use and develop is an amazing thing.”
The pair said judging from several joint worship services and events, the congregations will enjoy a bright future together as they reach out to the community-atlarge.
Kirbas said one such service was held on Marathon Sunday 2017, when Westminster didn’t plan to have its regular worship service because the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon’s route goes past its building. He said the church held services on that Sunday at Connecting Point, and about 130 people showed up.
The congregations also worshipped together on Maundy Thursday at Connecting Point this year, while a Good Friday service was held at Westminster.
“We said let’s really try to do one congregation during Holy Week, and it worked,” Hall said.
“We had people from both places come to both, and it really told us a lot about what our future could look like.”