Interesting...(well, to me at least)

[thyme4change]

This is about an organization, which happens to be a church - not about religion.

Years ago I went to a church that we really liked.  Our main pastor retired, and the associate pastor was somewhat slated to take over, and then all of a sudden the main office decided to open a branch church 15 miles away in an up-coming community and put our associate pastor as the lead there.  As with all change, the church had a lot of conflict and was in great turmoil.  Half the church left to open the new church, and it was a tough time.  

Although I thought the lead pastor was a really excellent speaker, I thought he was a jerk and an egotistical leader, so I wasn't crushed that he was gone, but I didn't like the new guy they got, and we lived far away - so we just left the church.  

I assumed that everything was going along, and I know the new and old church were both doing fine.  I just found out that about 6 month ago, the "new" church moved into a new facility.  Good for them.  However, the new facility is about 1.5 miles from the "old" church.  

Why would a relatively small denomination put two churches so close to each other?  The Phoenix area is a huge land area - you would think they would be able to cover more ground by spacing them a little further apart.

[Nazgul Girl]

    That sounds like a congregation-grab, if such a thing is possible.

[swamp]

Egos. 

[Tennesseer]

Money

[Deleted]

Isn't that a fairly standard part of a franchise agreement so you don't saturate the market?

[happyhoix]

Is it possible the new church changed to a slightly different 'flavor' of that denomination? There is the Presbyterian church and also the Cumberland Presbyterian church, for instance.

[Deleted]

The Holy Spirit made them do it.

[thyme4change]

Mar 26, 2013 7:07:04 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Is it possible the new church changed to a slightly different 'flavor' of that denomination? There is the Presbyterian church and also the Cumberland Presbyterian church, for instance.

I went to the website for that group (?? Religion - what do you call a church's head office??)  And both are listed there.  I would think someone in the national organization would discourage the churches being so close.  I will be interested to see what happens.  Given that it has only been months, the effects of drawing new membership isn't fully realized.  

Maybe they draw different crowds and have a different personality, so much so that no one is worried about it.  Just seems weird to me.

[Deleted]

It seems weird to you, but there are so many churches per square foot in Alabama that only the history you recounted would make it strange here.  There's a Baptist church on every other corner and a Methodist, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Episcopalian, whatever in between.  Only the Catholic, Mormon, and Jewish places of worship seem to be spaced out geographically.  We are the Bible Belt, you know.

In the case you describe, I'd think it had to do with what those who left felt they gave up . . . location, location, location.  

HappyHoix, are you from the South?  I used to be Cumberland Presbyterian (ex and adult kids still go there).  I just haven't heard anyone mention them specifically in a long time although they are also popular in a few other areas. 

[alabamagal]

What susana said...it is just like that here. But I think church is also a social event. All the main churches have slightly different religious beliefs but are similar in a lot of ways. But people here switch from one church to another based on social groups or like/dislike of a particular pastor.

We went to one church for a while, we liked the pastor and associate pastor, but the got promoted and a new pastor came in. We didn't care for him but stuck around, then they eliminated assoc pastor position. A lot of our friends left to go to another church of the same demonitation downtown (5-10 minutes away). We went to a different denomination (very minor differences) that is 1 mile from our house.

There is also a lot of social stigma with various churches. There is a "rich" church for one of the main denominations(mostly long-time local families). In order to be an active member of the church, you have to fit in with the group, and it is not just about money, it as about where you are from and who you know. Then there is a big church of another denomination that wants to be a mega church and is famous for making theater run movies. They have a 4th of July celebration that is bigger than the one put on by the city. There is also a "rock-and-roll" independent church that is geared toward younger people. People go mainly where they fit in socially, since the theologies are not that different.

[happyhoix]

HappyHoix, are you from the South? I used to be Cumberland Presbyterian (ex and adult kids still go there). I just haven't heard anyone mention them specifically in a long time although they are also popular in a few other areas.

I'm not 'from' the South but I've lived here a long time, if you know what I mean. And yes I think Cumberland Presbyterian is largerly a Southern denomination, never heard of it where I'm from in the North.

[thyme4change]

I know that some denominations have very strong national organizations that can really direct the churches.  I know others, like Baptists, the churches are strong, but the national organization is nearly voluntary. I am wondering if this national organization might be a weaker one, and couldn't do much to stop the guy from moving the church where ever he wanted it.

I do understand that there are churches on every street corner, and we have that here, too.  But you would think that in a city that is so geographically large, and a denomination that only has 6 churches across the entire valley, they wouldn't put them less than 2 miles from each other.