Every Legacy Begins With 1 Year

Last year, Legacy Christian Church opened in Menomonee Falls with the goal of doing church a little different. They wanted to send start a legacy that expanded beyond four walls.

And literally without four walls of their own – they meet weekly at Menomonee Falls High School – they’ve accomplished that in their first year. For Pastor Jerod Walker, the experience meeting at MFHS has built his congregations faith and kept them focused on their vision. On Sunday, the church celebrated it’s first year during a special service.

“I think here people were more surprised at the church with a building concept than I expected,” Walker said. “You cast vision for what we are about and what the church is always about.”

Legacy is a non-denominational Christian church that pegs itself as “a different way to do church.” The atmosphere is casual, a five-piece band replaces the traditional organ, and Walker delivers his message in jeans and an untucked shirt. In fact, the first thing the church asks of people who come to a service is to relax.

Walker said they studied the early years of the church in the Book of Acts, and so little of the church’s story revolved around the building. Service and connection with the community has guided much of Legacy’s progress.

“We get to live in the reality that church is not a building. We are constantly reminded of the real purpose of the church,” Walker said.

Throughout the past year, members of Legacy have been doing what they say. The church sponsored two public movies in Village Park over the summer. Most recently, Legacy volunteers organized a “Serve the City” outreach event in September.

On that day, over 45 people helped with the following five projects:

• They partnered with the Menomonee Falls Health Care Center to entertain and inspire the residents by bowling with them and also helped clean up their back patio and yard. 
• They sent out a group of volunteers to make sack lunches for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. 
• A group was sent to House of Love Ministries in Milwaukee to help sort through and clean one of their facilities. 
• They assembled over 280 teacher appreciation gifts that will be distributed to all the elementary school teachers, aides and office workers of the Menomonee Falls School District

“Legacy Christian Church is trying to leave a lasting impact in the Menomonee Falls area,” said Matt Berry, outreach pastor.

In just one year, Legacy has also helped found another church in Muskego. Lakepoint Church celebrated its first service in Muskego High School on the same day of Legacy’s one-year anniversary.

Before founding Legacy, Walker was the children’s and family pastor at Central Christian Church in Beloit. Pastor Ben Davis, at River Glen Church in Waukesha, contacted Walker and said the church had a goal to plant five new churches in the metro Milwaukee area in the next 10 years. He chose Walker to plant the first one.

Legacy holds services at 10 a.m. every Sunday in the auditorium, and services last about 65 minutes.

“We would like to be the kind of church that is we closed our doors the community would miss us, because of the impact we have left,” Walker said.