The Church at 50-Plus -- Where Are They?
Share examples of these congregations with George Bullard
This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend three days with a warm, inviting, and delightful congregation called Big Canoe Chapel. It is located in the mountains north of Atlanta, GA. It is a multi-denominational congregation. They asked me to do a congregational assessment as they consider the next season of their spiritual and strategic journey.
The Big Canoe mountain community was begun more than 50 years ago. It is a gated community with golf courses and various other recreational activities in a beautiful setting. Some people are permanent residents and some are weekend and/or summer residents.
The majority of the residents are empty nest or senior adult households. There appears to be incremental growth of families with children under 18, but older adults are the majority.
The Chapel is in its 47th year of existence. Many wonderful stories of local and global missional engagement can be told about this diverse group of Christians.
I Need Your Help!
First, I need to know about other gated communities around the USA which have these characteristics:
They are a gated community.
The residents are a majority — even exclusively — empty nest and senior adult households.
The economic level of upper middle class to upper class.
A multi-denominational chapel, congregation, church exists within the gated community and is a active community of Christian believers.
They are active in missional engagement within their community, to the area outside their community, and in certain ways to the world.
If you would recommend any — particularly if you have information about the congregation within the community you name — please use the link above to tell me about them so we can dialogue.
Second, I would be interested in hearing from anyone who would like to offer their opinion or concrete information on the difference between a multi-denominational congregation and a non-denominational congregation. Use the comment button below for short answers. Use the link above to send me an email with a longer response.
Note: For anyone who responds and gives me their contact information, I will send you a generic summary of what I discover about the multi and non-denominational factors. Of course, I will not be able to share with you what I say about Big Canoe Chapel as that will be their property to share or not to share.