'Progressive Christian' Church Selling Franklin Site, Moving To Nashville

FRANKLIN, TN — GracePointe, a self-described progressive Christian church, is leaving Franklin and moving across the county line to Nashville.

The church's 22.5 acre property, including a 12,000 square foot building in Cool Springs is listed for sale for $5.75 million and the congregation's pastor tells The Tennessean that in the two years since GracePointe reversed its stance on gay marriage and began allowing members who are gay to serve in leadership positions, its membership has been cut in half, but that more new members are coming from Davidson County. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

"That kind of radical inclusion, especially for the Bible Belt, is off-putting to some and endearing to others," founding pastor Rev. Stan Mitchell told the newspaper. "The people that it cost us ... they have plenty of places to go to church. The people that it gained us do not have that many options."

Mitchell said that when he announced the decision to give full membership privileges to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in January 2015, 90 percent of his members were from Williamson County, one of the state's most conservative counties where Donald Trump won 63 percent of the vote in the 2016 election. Now, 50 percent come from Nashville, one of the few blue islands in deeply red Tennessee.

While the church had long permitted gay and lesbian members to participate in some facets of church life — they could be baptized and take communion, for example, it did not permit them to be married, have their children dedicated or lead worship until January 2015, the culmination of a conversation within the congregation that began when perhaps its most famous parishioner — country superstar Carrie Underwood — came out in support of same-sex marriage in a 2012 interview with The Independent.

"Our church is gay friendly," she said. "Above all, God wanted us to love others. It's not about setting rules, or [saying] 'everyone has to be like me'. No. We're all different. That's what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It's not up to me to judge anybody."

The church's property is under contract, Mitchell told the paper, and the sale could finalize by year's end. In the meantime, the congregation will share space with Unity of Nashville on Franklin Pike, two miles from the county line.

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