Christ the King Church is no stranger when it comes to hosting marriage ceremonies, but Sunday night’s ceremony wasn’t between a man and a woman ? it was between two churches.
After a 10-month process, CTKC and Oxford Community Church officially merged their churches during a covenant ceremony held Sunday.
Members from each church packed CTK’s Family Life Center to celebrate the merger, singing praise and worship music, listening to scripture readings and receiving a message from both churches? pastors.
‘This is a happy, exciting time,? said Pastor Larry Hayward of the former Oxford Community Church (OCC). ‘At times, the process was excruciatingly slow. Other times it was going very fast. We’re excited to be a part of what God’s doing with the new church.?
With Hayward’s congregation merging into Pastor Bob Holt’s at CTKC, the new church’s membership will be about 1,000 souls strong.
OCC began as a church eight-and-a-half years ago meeting at Oxford Middle School. They eventually moved to their location on Baldwin Rd., where their congregation increased to a little more than 70 members.
During his message, Hayward, who will be the associate pastor at CTKC, told the crowd about how important it is the be unified in the Christian faith.
‘For their to be unity in the church, it’s gotta start off in the home,? he said. ‘If there can be unity in the home, it has to start with Mom and Dad.?
Like Hayward, Pastor Holt, senior pastor of CTKC, spoke about the power of unity.
‘Jesus said He wants to build a church that is unified,? he said. ‘If it’s unified, it’s so powerful for good that even the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. God has brought our respective churches together.?
After their messages, the two pastors exchanged vows and encouraged all the members from each church to stand up and recite a covenant that bound the churches into one.
‘We are one in spirit. One in our mission,? Holt said before the pastors lit a unity candle to represent the marriage.
Christ the King Church is located at 1550 W. Drahner Rd. in Oxford. Sunday services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. To contact either pastor, call (248) 628-0038.