By SARAH THOMACK
St. Joseph Post

Two churches in St. Joseph will begin the first Sunday of the year by merging into one congregation.

Stan Saunders is the pastor of Cornerstone Church on 36th Street in St. Joseph and Jimmy Root is the pastor of Manna Church on King Hill Avenue. Both of of their congregations had been holding services in their current locations for about two years. Root said he and Saunders met for the first time in October.

“When we met and began to share our stories and what we had, as far as a vision for ministry in St. Joseph, our visions were identical… and that vision included being able to start multiple locations, rather than try to establish one large church, but to minister to all parts of the community and the surrounding areas,” Root said. “After meeting, we just began to question, can we do this better together rather than each kind of working separately. After conversations and lots of prayer, we decided this was a God thing and that it would be very appropriate and the right thing to do to merge the two churches and unite and be stronger together.”  

Both Saunders and Root say there are plans to remodel the Manna Church King Hill location to be used for other ministry needs to serve the community in the future.

Saunders said the first Sunday service of the combined congregations will be held on Sunday, January 6th.

“You hear a lot about churches splitting and the infighting sometimes that happens in churches (so) everybody’s pretty excited about being part of a story that’s the opposite of that… the story of unity,” Saunders said.

The service will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Cornerstone Church is located at 805 South 36th Street in St Joseph. Childcare and children’s ministry are provided.

For more information, visit www.cornerstonechurch.cc.