Journey Church gone ???

[ChargerAg]

I heard from a friend that Journey Church has been sold as a satellite branch to a church in DFW. Went to their website and it now points to Fellowship Church. They seemed to be very present in the Norman area. Anybody know the details?

[benjico]

Churches can be sold?

[Jersey Boss]

Sure, why not? I have seen others do the same thing. Next to the church I vote at in Norman there was a Jehovah Witness church that was sold to a different religion 10-15 years ago. Apparently this particular church has multiple locations in Texas and now Oklahoma.
https://fellowshipchurch.com/#home-locations

[Martin]

the video on journey church's now redirected website implies that this is some kind of merger and the head honcho of journey is taking some sort of position within the larger church conglomerate out of dfw. i'm sure there's some strategic reason in the background. maybe stock options are involved. : ) to me, the whole video has a car commercial vibe to it and the two guys in it come across as your typical car lot spokesmen.

[Midtowner]

Churches can be sold?

Churches are property. So yeah.

[Urbanized]

Not presuming to speak for benjico but I took his question to be pertaining to the congregation rather than the building itself. As in, selling it as a going concern, like a business.

[Martin]

Not presuming to speak for benjico but I took his question to be pertaining to the congregation rather than the building itself. As in, selling it as a going concern, like a business.

same here.

[Midtowner]

Not presuming to speak for benjico but I took his question to be pertaining to the congregation rather than the building itself. As in, selling it as a going concern, like a business.

Church congregations aren't property, though they might figure in to a sale price. Kind of like if you sell a medical practice, one aspect of that valuation is the patient files.

[pw405]

Something about this guy makes me uneasy. Take a deep look:

[benjico]

Not presuming to speak for benjico but I took his question to be pertaining to the congregation rather than the building itself. As in, selling it as a going concern, like a business.

Yes, that was my question. Apologies for not clarifying....

Obviously the church BUILDING can be sold. But when church buildings are sold, their websites would normally go defunct, or the previous church would have moved to a different location to down size. This looks almost like absolving a business, with the redirect and all...

[bluedogok]

Metro Church approached Life Church about merging after their pastor left to go elsewhere. I was going to Life Church at that time and Edmond Road & Penn was the only location with a trial at the AMC Quail Springs a couple of years before. It was a discussion among the congregation and the leadership met with some Life Groups to get feedback on whether it should happen or not. It wasn't the first time that I had heard of that happening.

[soonerfan_in_okc]

A couple of failed expansion attempts an exodus of leaders in the church leads to something like this. Honestly, I’m surprised it took his long.

[jbkrems]

Soonerfan in okc - what do you mean? I am aware that some of the staff pastors of the former Journey Church are starting a new church; what do you mean?

[Martin]

ed young of fellowship church:

[seaofchange]

Soonerfan in okc - what do you mean? I am aware that some of the staff pastors of the former Journey Church are starting a new church; what do you mean?

I helped start the South OKC location several years back. We met at the Westminster Event Center at SW 104th/Western. It maybe lasted a year before they one day just dissolved it. They put a good bit of money into it, taking up extra donations from the church, and then it was suddenly gone. I don't remember the timeline exactly.

[gopokes88]

Churches can merge but being “sold” like a business transaction, isn’t allowed under their tax rules.

[ChargerAg]

Churches can merge but being “sold” like a business transaction, isn’t allowed under their tax rules.

I think you could. It would just look different. The sale would look like this: We call the transaction a merger. I give you my church and facilities. You give me a contract for a special do nothing position in the new church at 100k for the next 10 years. Congrats you just bought my church for 1 million.

[Midtowner]

Not-for-profit M&A. Seems legit!

[jerrywall]

I know First Pres in Edmond, while not sold, bought themselves out of the USA Presbyterian a few years back. Was rather expensive if I recall.

[jbkrems]

The comment above regarding churches "merging" is exactly correct. I've seen it even on the smaller scale. A few years ago I was part of a church in Edmond which merged with a different church; basically the church that I was a part of gave the building and facilities to the incoming church. Essentially my church got a new pastor and changed it's name to the other church, which alienated a lot of people (and I left 4 months later).