Founded in 1887, Gaston Avenue Baptist Church had decades of growth – reaching a membership of over 7,000 people. Renowned in the denomination for sending missionaries and monies throughout the globe, the church sought to impact people in Dallas, North Texas, and the world.
In 1990, Gaston Avenue Baptist Church became Gaston Oaks Baptist Church when Criswell College moved into their previous property and the church moved to the present location of Gaston Christian Center: Royal and Greenville. That move began a decrease in church attendance and after over twenty years of decline, its leadership knew change was needed.
With a rich legacy and history of missions and a desire to reach refugees and immigrants from multi-ethnic communities in neighborhoods around the church, Gaston Christian Center was born in 2012. A governing board from the church helped us in the process of adapting our ministry focus. By joining their building, land, space and infrastructure with civic and community-minded organizations and ministries, the Gaston Christian Center could become a place for numerous non-profits to flourish in collaboration.
Korea. Mexico. Central America. Myanmar. The Middle East. Instead of sending missionaries into the world, the GCC has now become a place for all nations to come inside its building. From churches in multiple languages that meet in person to medical and dental services for the uninsured to ESL and computer training to online discipleship for specific people groups in Africa, GCC utilizes its space and resources to be a blessing to our neighbors right here in Dallas.
Gaston Christian Center is a registered nonprofit seeking to ensure that the 66,000-square-foot former-Gaston Oaks property is “managed in perpetuity as a mission and ministry center,” focused both on service organizations and multi-ethnic church congregations. Our vision is to create a collective of faith-based agencies and churches that build synergy with each other and serve the needs of the region – and beyond.
“All of the nonprofit ministries that have joined us are totally autonomous,” said Dr. Gary W. Cook, pastor of Gaston Oaks Baptist Church. “They have their own boards, their own leadership, but they operate out of this building. Because of that, there is a synergy and a crossover between these ministries.”
All of the non-profit organizations at GCC are completely autonomous. With their own boards and leadership they operate at the GCC creating a synergy and crossover between these community groups.
The congregation from Gaston Oaks is still at GCC and those who remain from the “old” days are delighted that numerous congregations with various people groups join them at 8515 Greenville Avenue on Sundays and throughout the week.
At GCC, our mission is to Generate Community Collaboration. How do we do that? We provide a place for non-profits with different missions and various reaches to collaborate together. This one building creates synergy of a culture of caring for our community by meeting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of our multiethnic neighbors.