TOPEKA (KSNT) – Two Topeka churches are proving that faith and flexibility can go hand in hand.
When one congregation grew and the other downsized, they made an unusual move to help each other out. It’s not often you hear of two churches trading places, but two congregations in Topeka say swapping locations has been an amazing decision.
Topeka Baptist church had been steadily growing, eventually outgrowing their place of worship off of 45th and Southwest Gage.
“The church is a family. And we are a growing family, so we just needed a bigger space,” Topeka Baptist Pastor, Mark Doss said. “We were looking to either expand and it’s just so expensive to build right now.”
Just a few miles away, light of the world Chrisitan center was having a shift in numbers.
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With a smaller congregation, they realized some of their space was going unused.
“First day we listed it. They are the first ones that come look at it that day,” Light of the World Pastor Wes Oakley said. And so, we knew that maybe something was aligning. And we’d drive around Topeka looking for another place, so we could kind of downsize. We’d always come back to this place.”
Now Topeka Baptist is holding services in Light of the World’s old location near 33rd and Southwest Gage. They say they saved around $10,000,000 on reconstruction. Light of the World has moved into the smaller space that they left behind.
“Two different denominations that can work together to get something done,” Light of the World Member, Chris Croft said. “I mean, that’s a good example for anybody.”
Both churches say the swap is a win – win. Both groups now have spaces that can accommodate the size of their congregations.
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