From 1928, the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, TN grew from a suburban church plant of 24 to a large urban congregation with four Sunday AM services, two Sunday Schools, five church plants, and all-time high records in 2001 in Sunday School (1419), Sunday AM worship (1855), and membership (1806).  With the building capacity maxed out and the property landlocked, in 2001 leaders privately investigated an alternate property for the purpose of relocation.  By 2003, the relocation discussion went public and the congregation voted to move.  Nine years after the initial investigations, the Highland Church of Christ re-launched in a new facility on forty acres in a suburban location. 

Almost everything that could go wrong during a church relocation did go wrong with ours.  Yet, many things also went right.  In this series of posts, I’ll explore that which went wrong–the things we regret about our relocation journey.  In the next series, I’ll explore what went right–the things we rejoice in about our relocation journey.

#1 – We regret that the journey was more difficult than we had anticipated.  When an internal task force in 2001 first recommended relocation, we could have never anticipated the cost of embracing that recommendation. Church on the Move: 11 Things We Regret About Relocating (Part 1)