About Us
Mission
Through various ministries like our Help Center, Women of Worth and serving as a Pencil Partner to McGavock Elementary School, we seek to help the hungry, the homeless, and others in need in our community. Through our support for mission efforts around the world, we try to reach out to those who need a saving relationship with Jesus. Through home churches and bible classes we want to encourage each other to find personal ways to touch the lives of people in the world around us.
Values
- We value seeking God, His kingdom, and His will, through prayer, worship, service, and the study of the Scriptures.
- We value knowing Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, trusting in His grace alone, experiencing freedom in Him, and watching for His return.
- We value the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to live in holiness, peace, and joy and to fulfill God’s purposes for us individually and as His church.
- We value the gospel of Jesus Christ, believing it is truly good news, and we are committed to make disciples of Jesus in our community and around the world.
- We value the love and fellowship we experience in Christ, encouraging and helping each other as members of God’s family.
- We value unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are committed to unity in essential matters of faith and to freedom in matters of opinion, looking to the Word of God to discern the difference.
- We value the call of Christ to use our spiritual gifts and material blessings to serve others in love, and we are committed to develop servant hearts and generous spirits.
- We value our congregation’s heritage of faith and grace, and we are committed to pursue simple, biblical, nondenominational Christianity.
History
In September of 1873 a small group of Christians committed to simple, biblical, nondenominational Christianity started a church in what was then known as McWhirtersville (now Donelson). They called themselves simply “Disciples of Christ, McWhirtersville, Tennessee.” The name of the church was changed to “Church of Christ, Donelson, Tennessee” in 1900, and in 1905 moved to our present location. For over 140 years we have remained here in the heart of Donelson serving this community. Though we are an independent, self-governing congregation, we enjoy close association with other Churches of Christ which come from our same heritage of faith. But we also enjoy fellowship with other Christians in our community.
The rapid growth of the community and our church in the 1950s and ’60s led to the building of our present auditorium in 1965 and an activity center in 1972. The chapel and more classrooms were added in 1987. In 2012 a faith-building campaign raised 1.5 million dollars for construction of new basement classrooms, new lobby and loft areas, additional bathrooms, as well as major refurbishing of children’s classrooms.
This congregation’s strong commitment to helping people is visible in the acquisition of a family care home for families in crisis, a benevolence center providing food, clothing, and other assistance to those in need, and our strong ties to our Pencil Partner McGavock Elementary School. Once a week our activity center is used to provide shelter for the homeless as part of the Room in the Inn ministry and it is used to provide meals and weekly ESL classes.
In recent decades, the character of our church has been impacted by a number of ministers. Those who have served as preachers include: Bob Hendren (1970- 1989); Randy Harris (1990-2000); Lipscomb University professors Mark Black, John York, and Lee Camp (2001-2003); Rob McRay (2003-2010); Earl Lavender (2010-2011); and Russ King (2011-present).
Jim Parnell was our first full-time youth minister, beginning in 1974. He served in a variety of roles until his retirement in 2014. Frank Batson has served for many years as an associate minister and an elder. Richard Van Dyke served as an associate minister from 1994-2006.
Danny Gregg has served as youth minister from 1989-2024 and is now our worship leader. Christie Beddow is our middle-school minister, Abby Carter is our children’s minister and Craig Thomas is our youth minister. Mark Powell is serving as our current lead minister and Drue Clark is our discipleship minister.