This is, believe it or not, a "storefront" church located on Ocala's east side. It has an interesting history. The pastor of Church of Hope is Mark Cummins. Cummins, a charismatic and dynamic young man, came to Ocala around 2006-2007 to take over as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, following the retirement of a beloved pastor who had served First Baptist for 20 plus years.
After about a year, all hell broke loose when Cummins fired six popular assistant clerics. First Baptist, a huge operation, became a battle ground, and after a great deal of dissension, split. Cummins left to start his own church, bringing with him over 300 members from First Baptist.
For a time, the group met in another storefront operation then moved to Westport High School, and finally bought this place from another group that had moved on to build a more traditional church building.
Church of Hope is proudly non-denominational, claiming to preach the Bible and insisting their mission is to serve the community. One problem as I see it, is the phrase, "preach the Bible," can mean about anything these days. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 15, verse 24, Jesus says: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel."
I rather doubt they preach that at Church of Hope.
As I recall, this church now has over 750 members.
17 comments:
Gosto da arquitectura simples desta Igreja.
Um abraço e bom fim-de-semana.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
O prazer dos livros
The non-denominational movement is sweeping the nation, as it the storefront model.
Janis
GDP
Un luogo di culto che non passa certo inosservato!
Un saluto,silvia
Interesting history and a lovely capture!
...churches split on a regular basis it seems!
Great.
Quite a large building, but I suppose it need to be large is all 750 members come to church at the same time.
The history of religion over eons has always confounded me.
He must have a powerful personality to attract that many members!
I'd say good for them but, I'm not really sure it is good for anyone.
Ditto what Sharon said.. religion seems to cause many a problem around the world ✨
I haven't seen or heard from a storefront church before. It's easy accessible for everyone. Interesting history!
The odd church here does storefront operations. Others tend to pair up with older churches and run their services perhaps on a Sunday afternoon as opposed to the morning.
I know of one of these churches, which I get the impression might be evangelical or non-denominational, that has an arrangement with a movie theatre to use one of their cinemas Sunday mornings, since no movies begin there before one anyway.
I never heard of a storefront church before. I don't do church after spending my younger days in parochial school.
They do have a way of mushrooming those charismatic-led churches. Must be a lot of lost sheep in Ocala. And yes, I'm sure they pick and choose their messages (whether store-front or traditional (imho). I am the same as Bill Burke in his comment above.
In my small town area we have churches that spring up in all types of buildings. Might have more churches than businesses, I believe.
This place looks like you should be able to go in and order an enchilada platter #3 to go.
I'd have some concerns about a pastor who's capable of breaking all hell loose when he's hired to do exactly the opposite, that is to keep it contained.
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