Church of the Incarnation has merged with Trinity Church in Dallas to create new growth in a parish that has declined in attendance for several years.
The new campus, Incarnation North, is scheduled to launch public worship in August 2019, said the Rev. Thomas Kincaid, vice rector of Incarnation. The Rev. David Thompson, formerly a curate at St. James in Texarkana, will lead the satellite church as assistant rector.
However, the Trinity congregation will continue to worship at the parish under the pastoral leadership of the Rev. J. Oliver Lee Jr., an oblate in the Order of St. Benedict.
Thompson will develop a seed congregation of about 100 parishioners to take to the new campus in 2019, where they will begin contemporary worship similar to Incarnation’s Uptown service. The seed congregation will begin worshipping on occasion at the new site in early 2019 with a soft launch on Easter Sunday and public launch in the fall.
“We began praying for this in April of 2017,” Kincaid said. “It is part of our DNA as a parish to reach new folks and to grow. We felt this was the next step God was calling us to in that effort. We are really excited and grateful for the partnership with the existing Trinity congregation.”
Church leaders have been studying the neighborhood around Trinity and believe the demographics will support their efforts at growing the church, particularly with a seed congregation. “We’ve already got folks who have raised their hands and said, ‘we are ready to go. We want to be a part of this,’” Kincaid said.
This post appeared here first: Parish Merger in Dallas
[Living Church General Convention]