So What Faith

Greg Smith

Search for a Church: Oklahoma Edition (#2346)

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In December 2023, my wife accepted a new job in Oklahoma City. Since we were both living and working in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area at the time, the distance made a daily commute impractical. We soon became a two-state family, a living arrangement that continued for the next two and a half years.

Greg and Susan Outside Westminster Presbyterian Church – March 17, 2024 (photo by Greg Smith)

During that time, I made many trips to Oklahoma City, including a number of visits that included Sunday morning. Those visits gave me the opportunity to worship in thirteen different congregations in and around Oklahoma City.

I wrote a blog post about each experience:

Common Threads

One thing that stands out is that all thirteen congregations are affiliated with a Mainline Protestant denomination. That is not particularly surprising given that this is my own theological home.

Worship at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Edmond, May 11, 2025 (photo by Greg Smith)

At the time, I also imagined that I might be spending considerably more time in Oklahoma, perhaps for many years, so these visits were partly an effort to find a potential church home.

The thirteen congregations represented six denominations:

  • Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): 2
  • Episcopal Church: 1
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: 3
  • Presbyterian Church (USA): 3
  • United Church of Christ: 3
  • United Methodist Church: 1

A few of these congregations were simply too small to be a good fit for me. One was both small and moving toward closure, and has since closed (see Another Church Closes: Saying Goodbye to Covenant Presbyterian After 70 Years).

Although none were megachurches, they represented a variety of church sizes, worship styles, organizational approaches, and congregational cultures.

So What?

Earlier this year, my wife accepted a new role in Texas, bringing our two-state arrangement to an end. We put our Oklahoma City house on the market, and I am glad to say it has now sold. Our Oklahoma chapter is officially complete.

Looking back, there were only two congregations I visited more than once: Westminster Presbyterian Church and New Covenant Christian Church. They are quite different in size and structure. Westminster is a resource-sized congregation with multiple worship services, while New Covenant is a pastoral-sized congregation with a single service.

Rev. Landon Whitsitt, Westminster Senior Pastor, Preaching – March 17, 2024 (photo by Greg Smith)

Despite these differences, both share several appealing qualities. Each has a clear congregational vision, an intentional approach to welcoming newcomers, and a variety of opportunities for people to become involved. The senior clergy person at each congregation has also served in their present role for at least five years, providing a measure of continuity in leadership.

Most importantly, both were places where I felt at home.

Rev. David Wheeler, New Covenant Pastor, Preaching – February 1, 2026 (photo by Greg Smith)

I set out to visit churches in a city where I thought I might spend many more years. Instead, those visits became a meaningful part of a chapter of life that has now come to a close. I am grateful for the welcome I experienced, the people I met, and the opportunity to experience thirteen expressions of mainline Protestant Christianity in a place that, for a time, was also my second home.

Note: The title of this post was inspired by previous searches for a church home in Texas.

  • The original search began when we relocated to Texas from Florida in 2015. From late September 2015 through early February 2017 worshipped 61 times in 36 different Mainline Protestant congregations, primarily on the North side of the Dallas – Fort Worth metropolitan area. You can read the final post, which links to all of the earlier posts in the series: Our Search for a Church is Over! (February 2017)
  • The second search began when we moved from a small suburb at the North end of this area to downtown Fort Worth. This search lasted some 57 weeks or 13 weeks less than the original, running from January 2018 through May 29. During this search we visited only 15 different Mainline congregations. You can read the final post, which links to all of the earlier posts in the series: Our Search for a Church 2.0 is Over! (May 2019)

Interestingly, between our two Texas searches we visited a total of 51 congregations. Despite an additional move since the second search, we have continued our membership at Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ, which we established back in 2017.