CHURCH OF THE WEEK
Christ Church: Building Community
By Amy Turner
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– A greater sense of community… That’s what one church in Nashville, Tennessee, is trying to create. Christ Church recently opened a facility that the whole family can enjoy.
They have an on-site health club, fitness classes, intramural sports, and a Starbuck’s café. And while you enjoy your coffee, you can watch your kids play on the two story indoor playground set.
Linda Hilliard, the Director of Education, says, “Everyone wants to go to McDonalds. Now we have the same atmosphere. We want kids to say we want to go to church.”
Pastor Lawson Hardwick says, “We see every bit of that as an attraction to draw people to a safe place. [It’s a] happy, healthy, and holy place for people.”
When they opened the facility, half of the health club members had not attended their church before beginning to exercise there. Recreational Director Scott Hord says they want to grow people spiritually as well as physically.
“We want the foundation of Christ to be in everything that we do,” he adds. “We know people from the community come in -- people that don’t go to church. We want to be able to touch their lives. We don’t want to just make them better physically; we want to help them spiritually as well.”
Pastor Hardwick says they designed all of the facility, including a 128-foot prayer tower to become a community center where neighbors can connect with one another.
For reaching out to your community through your family life center, The 700 Club salutes you, Christ Church in Nashville, Tennessee.
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