09/20/2024
Dear Oak Grove members:
I am attaching a list of options that we were given by our DOM concerning the future of our church. We will have a special business meeting October 6 to vote on pursuing Option 5.
After reviewing all the options, we believe that Option 5 – the Mission Option might be the best for Oak Grove at this point. It would provide us with resources that we need, including some families with children that would be willing to attend Oak Grove from the church who would take us on. Then maybe the community would be drawn back in and we could build up our attendance again. They would provide preachers and hopefully one of them would be called to become our pastor. We just have to pray about it and ask God to lead us to make the right decision. We don’t want to see our little church close and this is a way forward for us. Please pray with us about a a path to move forward.
The Future of Oak Grove Baptist Church
The Bad News
• Worship attendance decline
• Leaders abandoned roles
• Mainly older members in attendance
• Sporadic younger participation
The Good News
• We have Christ and His Spirit
• We have each other – a faithful core group
• We have good, useful facilities
• We have some money – not insolvent
• We have options to prayerfully consider.
Option 1 – Continue as is/search for pastor
• History proves most churches like ours will struggle and continue until we run out of people and money.
Option 2 – Close our doors
• If the church closes, its net assets would be given to association to do with as they see fit.
Option 3 – RESTART
• Oak Grove closes and gives net assets to the association with the understanding that a new church will be started.
• Difficult to enforce the wishes of congregation in this one
Option 4 – REVITALIZE
• Oak Grove asks another church to partner with us.
• Difficult strategy
• Conflicting motivations
• No Shared ownership
• Two captains piloting one ship
Option 5 – MISSION
• Oak Grove reverts to mission status under another church
• Temporary arrangement
• Surrender autonomy
• Become members of the other church
• Gain leaders, people, money from the other church – the other church would provide prospective pastors; teachers, if necessary; hopefully a few families from that church would agree to attend Oak Grove
• Goal: Oak Grove regains autonomy after a couple of years
Option 6 – SATELLITE
• Oak Grove becomes a satellite campus of another church
• Permanent arrangement
• Surrender autonomy
• Gain leaders, people, money
• BUT—Oak Grove may never regain autonomy.
Option 7 – MERGE
• Oak Grove merges with another church
• Can be delicate with ownership and turf negotiations
• Two of everything to blend
• No immediate shared ownership
