Presbyterian Church of Muskogee
Muskogee OK

United in God’s grace through Jesus Christ, Presbyterian Church of Muskogee is a steadfast presence serving many through active faith, outward witness, and loving acceptance.

Our church is a warm and loving church, and we want you to feel comfortable and at liberty to call on us for anything you need. If you are considering a new place of worship or a relocation to our area, we would love to have you be our guest.

When you visit our church, you will find:

A caring congregation that will gladly welcome you Preaching/teaching that is centered on the Word of God Ministries to meet the spiritual needs of every age

 

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Two prominent Muskogee Presbyterian churches have come together as one, ending a nearly two-year journey for First Presbyterian Church, and creating Presbyterian Church of Muskogee.

In March of 2015, First Presbyterian closed its doors, citing low membership and high utility costs. The church sold the building to Antioch Baptist, then moved into Bethany Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Jeff Cranton, who took over the church in mid 2016, said the two pastors of the respective churches discussed merging them, then retired.

“I was hired to be the interim pastor here,” Cranton said. “I was here to help these two churches kind of figure out where they thought God was leading them. A merger was on the table, but it was also a possibility for them to find another building and go on with separate ministries. After a considerable amount of prayer, we discerned that God was leading us to be one church. We then set ourselves to that task.”

Fast forward to December of 2016, with all articles filed, the regional Presbytery approved the merger, Cranton said, and Presbyterian Church of Muskogee was born. The minister chosen to pilot the ship was none other than the interim, the Rev. Cranton.

Shirley Reiner and Andrea Wilcoxen were members of First Presbyterian, both joining the congregation in 1982. For them, closing the doors was a tough decision, but one they knew had to be made.

“Since Muskogee is a community city, and I’ve worked a lot of places in the city, I found that I knew a lot of these people,” Reiner said. “So I felt comfortable worshipping with these folks. There was a lot of concern, and a lot of grieving that took place at the loss of that beautiful church. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve worshipped in a lot of places, so I didn’t feel that loss of a place as much as some did who had been there longer. I felt like a church is the people, and we were concerned about the welfare of our people. If we had stayed there, our people wouldn’t have thrived.”

Cindy Dieman, who has been a member of Bethany Presbyterian since 1985, said like First Presbyterian, their membership was dwindling, and an injection of new believers was welcome.

“I was excited they were coming in,” she said. “I thought combining both churches would help those numbers.”

During the Sunday morning service at Presbyterian Church of Muskogee on Jan. 22, worshipers greeted one another, offered up prayer requests and celebrated the good news of a parishioner who just completed his last chemotherapy treatment. There was an announcement concerning the formation of a personnel committee, and the choir — a harmonious representation of two bodies — led an enthusiastic worship.

Cranton said the churches coming together presented a potential problem for new members at first.

“When new members came in, they had to choose which church they wanted to join, even though we were in the same building,” he said. “This caused some of them to be surprised, because they didn’t realize there were two church bodies. The people really blended well. And since the merger, we’re gaining momentum. There’s two pieces to that. It’s the work of the Spirit and these folks. There’s a real desire here to love the community.

“I look back on this year, and it really couldn’t have happened any other way,” Cranton said. “These folks have an incredibly deep faith and a desire to expand on that and act on that. It shows in their mission, it shows in the projects we participate in in the community and it shows in the non-church things the people do. It was destined to be a good merger, because these are great Christian folks.”

From: https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/churches-blend-memberships-to-become-one-congregation/article_9b58a5f2-4da2-59eb-b5c0-43bcba038ee6.html