The Summit Church is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

multi-site

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

headquartered in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

and meeting at 12 campuses across the Triangle area. It is affiliated with the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

. Regular attendance averages nearly 11,564 people weekly.

History

The Summit Church began in 1961 when Sam James preached the first service at what was then the Grace Baptist Mission in Durham.Flo Johnston
"Church sets sites anew as it grows."
newsobserver.com. Published 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2009-06-12. Within a year, the mission had grown into the new Homestead Heights Baptist Church. The Church grew to a membership of over 150 by 1965 and as it continued to grow, the congregation constructed a new church building in the 1980s to host close to 600 people. Although it briefly exceeded capacity, the 1990s saw little growth and eventually declined to a stable 400 members. In 2002, Homestead Heights called its college pastor of a year and a half, J.D. Greear, to be pastor.Flo Johnston
"Church to sell its site."
newsobserver.com Published 2005-03-04. Retrieved 2009-06-12.Yonat Shimron

newsobserver.com. Published 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-06-10. Upon accepting the position, Greear called for the renaming and ultimately the re-launching of the church as the Summit Church. In the first three years, a large influx of members eventually led to the sale of its property located on Holt School Road, and in April 2005 the church began holding services at Riverside High School. According to a census of the denomination published in 2020, it said it has a weekly attendance of 11,564 people and 12

campuses A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

in different cities. Lifeway research
2020 Largest Churches in America
outreachmagazine.com, USA, retrieved January 16, 2021

References

External links

Official websitePastor J.D.'s blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summit Church Christian organizations established in 1961 Baptist churches in North Carolina Churches in Raleigh, North Carolina Churches in Durham, North Carolina 20th-century Baptist churches in the United States 1961 establishments in North Carolina Southern Baptist Convention churches Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in North Carolina