Why two Oklahoma City churches of different denominations have chosen to join forces

"If your heart is as my heart, take my hand." — John Wesley

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A prominent megachurch and a smaller congregation are joining forces to provide ministry in Oklahoma City's Belle Isle/Mayfair area where they each have roots.

Through a partnership between Crossings Community Church and Mayfair Church of Christ, Crossings' newest satellite will be housed in the Mayfair church building at 2340 NW 50. The two congregations affiliated with two different Christian movements will work together at the new satellite to be called Crossings-Mayfair, and Mayfair's preaching minister, Jared Chambers, will join the Crossings staff.

Chambers and the Rev. Marty Grubbs, Crossings' longtime senior pastor, said the Mayfair congregation will transfer the title of their church building to Crossings in what the ministers described as a "kingdom transaction." They said that is the term they prefer to use because they don't consider the transfer a traditional business transaction. The leaders said the new partnership is more about their two churches doing ministry together, with a goal to officially open the Crossings-Mayfair satellite in January 2024.

"We believe we can get a lot done together," Grubbs said.

Chambers agreed.

"In our discussions, we've been calling this 'Better Together,'" he said.

Chambers and Grubbs each announced the joint effort on Sunday to their respective congregations. Chambers did so by sharing the results of Mayfair's vote on the partnership with Crossings, which was approved by 92% of the congregation.

Both churches have a "vested interest" in the Belle Isle/Mayfair area, Chambers said, and this became evident when leaders from both congregations met in the spring for initial discussions.

Grubbs, 64, and Chambers, 37, said the two churches were started within a year of each other a short distance from each other in the Belle Isle/Mayfair area.

Mayfair Church of Christ has a proud 65-year history, opening its doors at its current location in 1958, and about 100 people attend Sunday worship services. Crossings started as Westridge Hills Church, meeting in a church building at 2600 NW 55 in 1959. Over time, Westridge Hills changed its name to Belle Isle Community Church. The church became known as Crossings when it moved from the Belle Isle area to its current location at 14600 N Portland in 1999.

The sprawling Crossings campus includes Crossings Christian School and three main spaces where worship services are held. Grubbs said Crossings-Mayfair will join other Crossings satellites, which include one in Edmond at Covell Road across from Mitch Park; Crossings Community Center at 10255 N Pennsylvania; and The Chapel at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington. Grubbs said land has been purchased and construction will start on a new satellite on the corner of Covell and Air Depot.

Grubbs said current attendance at all locations is about 8,000 for weekend services, but Crossings membership is about 12,000.

Shared ministry calling

Grubbs said that over the years, he developed a habit of visiting the neighborhood where Crossings started to get a look at the "old church" and the surrounding area. In the spring, he found himself driving through the area once again, reflecting on the "magical days, good days" where he and church members spread the Gospel there. Feeling wistful and more than a little hopeful, Grubbs met with Crossings' leadership team and they reached out to a commercial ReaItor to see if there were any buildings for sale in the Belle Isle area that might be transformed into a Crossings satellite.

The Realtor reported back to Crossings that the search was fruitless, but unbeknownst to Crossings, the real estate professional made a call to Mayfair Church of Christ to ask if the congregation was interested in downsizing.

Chambers said the elders at his church had been considering its future. He said church members had come to the realization that their 42,000-square-foot building was a large facility for the size of their congregation.

"We're very proud and fond of it and there are a lot of great memories for us here, but it's a lot to upkeep and a lot to take care of," Chambers said of the building.

Eventually, a meeting between leaders of the two churches was set up.

"We went in to talk about selling the building and within a few minutes of being in the room, we were both just talking about how much love we had for this place and how at Mayfair, we felt called to be here and Crossings was feeling that calling to come back here," Chambers said.

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Chambers said the church leaders suddenly seemed to be saying the same things about the Belle Isle/Mayfair area, how they loved the people there and the neighborhoods.

"We started talking about would there be a way that we could do this together," he said.

Grubbs said Crossings has been impressed with the Mayfair congregation because of their commitment to maintaining a ministry presence in the area and making an impact on the surrounding community. He said the partnership will include Crossings' plans to make some upgrades to the Mayfair building and some Crossings staff will be sent to the location.

Chambers said his congregation was excited about the planned upgrades and Crossings' commitment to adding its financial support to an orphanage in Mexico that has been one of Mayfair's long-standing mission programs.

Grubbs said, "One way we can show our appreciation to Jared and his folks is to love what they love."

Focus on unity, common ground

Both ministers said their congregations have responded to the new partnership with enthusiasm.

Grubbs joked that he might have to put a limit on how many Crossings members could serve as volunteers at the new satellite.

"Our people are jazzed," he said. "They are so excited, I need to probably let them know that all 8,000 of us cannot go to Belle Isle."

Chambers said Mayfair members are pleased, as well.

"There's a sense of hope and a sense of kind of a rebirth of mission here that we are excited about," he said.

So how will congregations from two different Christian faith traditions make all of this work?

"We are choosing to focus on the things that we have in common," Chambers said.

Grubbs said Crossings' doctrinal roots are found in the Wesleyan tradition. Mayfair is part of the Church of Christ faith tradition, a loose association of autonomous churches governed by elders, deacons and ministers, with no governing hierarchy beyond the local church.

Grubbs said he was reminded of one of his favorite quotes from theologian John Wesley, who is considered one of the principal influencers of the Methodist movement. The minister said Wesley's quote about people walking hand in hand when they have the same heart really resonates in the Crossings-Mayfair partnership.

Both men said their faith traditions agree on "core principles" such as the Bible being divinely inspired by God, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, that he will return someday, that there is a need for people to commit to Christ and follow Christ, and baptism is an outward symbol of that commitment to Christ.

Having said that, the leaders acknowledged there are some areas where their respective faith traditions diverge. Grubbs said they each believe in baptism, but differ on how and when it should occur. He said Crossings believes that God calls and equips women to serve and lead and that musical accompaniment is OK in worship services. Churches of Christ traditionally do not believe that women may lead in churches and Chambers said Churches of Christ traditionally choose to worship without instrumental backing. Chambers said Mayfair already has received some pushback about the decision to partner with Crossings based on the musical accompaniment issue but are choosing to focus on Christian unity.

Ultimately, Grubbs said he feels the church partnership will flourish because the congregations' core principles are the same.

"I have never been one that likes publicity that much, but if this could be used across the country to show people, you know what, two churches from two different camps can get together when they're one in the essentials and we need to knock off all this ugliness toward each other," Grubbs said.

"I hope this could inspire some people to say, let's quit arguing over the preferences or the convictional issues and rally around the core principles that we all agree on."

Chambers shared similar comments.

"We spent a significant amount of time over the last couple of years here at Mayfair talking about Christian unity — what does it mean?" he said.

"When we started talking about this possibility, we thought we've been saying a lot of good words about Christian unity. This is an opportunity for us to show that we mean it."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Crossings, Mayfair Church of Christ announce new ministry partnership