W E H A V E A R I C H H I S T O R Y

A People Called to Memphis: The Story of Christ Methodist Church

Roots: 1955 and the Founding Vision

Memphis, Tennessee, has always been a city with a story to tell. Situated on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, it has been a place of commerce and culture, of struggle and spiritual vitality. In 1955, as the city was expanding eastward and new neighborhoods were taking root along the Poplar Avenue corridor, a congregation was planted in East Memphis that would grow into one of the most significant Methodist churches in the American South. That congregation is Christ Methodist Church — and its story is still being written.

The mid-1950s were a season of growth for Memphis. East Memphis, once largely undeveloped land on the city's outskirts, was becoming home to young families, new subdivisions, and the aspirations of a postwar generation. The Memphis District of the Methodist Church recognized the moment and acted on it.

In 1955, the District asked existing congregations to "seed" membership for a much-needed church "out east." The response was unlike anything Methodism had seen. When the day came for charter members to present themselves, 600 persons stepped forward — reportedly the largest charter membership in the history of Methodism. Christ Methodist Church was not born small. It was born with a crowd of pioneers.

Dr. Charles William Grant was called to lead them. In his very first sermon, he set the tone for everything that would follow:

"Today we find the challenge pointed to us to dare to believe as Abraham did. Progress, even in the Church, is seldom made without genuine pioneers — those so filled with faith that they move beyond the vision of the satisfied. God calls us to greatness of ambition for His kingdom, to dissatisfaction with the commonplace."

Those were not the words of a pastor content to build a comfortable neighborhood church. They were the words of a man who believed God had gathered these 600 people for something larger than themselves.

That pioneer spirit showed up almost immediately in the congregation's priorities. Even before Christ Church had a permanent building of its own, the congregation was already supporting two medical missionaries in Borneo. The church had not yet put down roots in East Memphis before it was reaching across the world. That instinct, to love the neighbor near and far, would become one of the congregation's most defining characteristics, and it has never left.

A Season of Flourishing: Maxie Dunnam and the Heart of Evangelism (1982–1994)

If there is a chapter in the church's history that put it on the national Methodist map, it is the 12 years of Dr. Maxie Dunnam's senior ministry. From 1982 to 1994, Dunnam served as senior minister of what had grown into a six-thousand-member Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis.

Dunnam arrived having already distinguished himself as a leader of uncommon spiritual depth. He had served as world editor of The Upper Room, one of the most widely circulated Christian devotional publications, and under his editorial leadership, transformative discipleship initiatives emerged, including the Walk to Emmaus, a renewal movement that would reach hundreds of thousands of believers globally.

His tenure at Christ Church was marked by a commitment to evangelism, inner-city ministries, housing for the working poor, outreach to the recovering community, and innovative worship. Under his leadership, the congregation was not content to be a comfortable suburban church. It pressed outward — into the city, into brokenness, into the places where the Gospel was most needed and least expected.

Dunnam was also a nationally recognized voice for orthodox, evangelical Methodism. He was inducted into Evangelism's "Hall of Fame" in 1989 and received the World Methodist Council Chair of Honor in 1991. His ministry in Memphis reflected those convictions — that the local church was not an end in itself but a launching pad for God's mission in the world.

In 1994, Dunnam left Christ Church to serve as president of Asbury Theological Seminary, although he would remain woven into the life of Christ Church for decades afterward, eventually returning as Minister-at-Large. His fingerprints on the congregation's DNA, including its love for Scripture, its commitment to the lost, its evangelical Wesleyan identity, never faded.

Through all of these chapters, the congregation at 4488 Poplar Avenue remained anchored to the convictions that had animated it from the beginning: that the Wesleyan tradition, with its emphasis on grace, Scripture, holiness, and mission, was not an artifact of church history but a living force — and that a local church committed to those convictions could change a city and help change the world.

A Defining Moment: 2022 and the Road to the Global Methodist Church

In 2022, Christ Methodist Church faced one of the most consequential decisions in its nearly seven-decade history.

In 2022, Paul Lawler and his wife Missy were unexpectedly called to Christ Church Memphis. Shortly after arriving, he was asked to lead the church through disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church had grown deeply divided over questions of biblical authority and human sexuality, a fracture years in the making that had finally reached a moment of reckoning for congregations across the country.

The question before Christ Church was not a simple one. Leaving a denomination that had been home for nearly 70 years carried real costs, including relational, institutional, and financial. But for the congregation, the deeper question was one of integrity. Christ Church Memphis had always been consistent in supporting the renewal and preservation of historic, orthodox, evangelical Christianity in the Wesleyan tradition, and that commitment was increasingly at odds with a significant portion of the UMC and its leadership.

When the congregation voted, the result was decisive. The vote to disaffiliate passed with over 90% support, and a subsequent vote to join the Global Methodist Church passed with 97% support. It was not a vote taken lightly or in anger, but rooted in theological conviction and a determination to remain faithful to the Gospel as the congregation understood it.

A New Name, an Ancient Mission

With its entry into the Global Methodist Church, the congregation returned to her original name, Christ Methodist Church. This was done to reflect both its roots and its renewed sense of calling. The name change was more than cosmetic; it was a declaration. This was still the same congregation that had gathered on Poplar Avenue in 1955. The same Wesleyan convictions. The same passion for the Gospel. But now with fresh clarity about who they were and where God was calling them.

Under Pastor Lawler's leadership, Christ Methodist Church has become a catalyst for planting new congregations and seeing people come to faith in Jesus Christ — continuing a missional vision with deep roots in the church's own history. Lawler has since led the congregation through prayer summits, mission and vision discernment, and ministry goal-setting, while also playing a formative role in shaping the Global Methodist Church as a movement — not merely a denomination.

The church's mission remains what it has always been: to make, mature, and mobilize disciples who love Jesus and love like Jesus in the world. From East Memphis to the ends of the earth.