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Our Church History:

Miami's Church of Christ, In The Beginning:

The first worship service of the Church of Christ held in Miami was on December 3, 1911 at the W.A. Pringle home on NW 5th Street, although individual families had been worshipping in their homes for perhaps 5 years. This first gathering included eleven adults and children from three families: the Pringles, the DeVanes and the Hinelys. They were soon joined by the six members of the Dasher family who traveled every Sunday the ten miles from Larkin (now South Miami) in a horse-drawn surrey. So far as is known, this was the first congregation of the Church of Christ established on the east coast of Florida, and came to be known as the Central Church of Christ.

Miami's Church of Christ, Grows:

The Church continued to meet in homes, a bicycle shop, a store building, the Fair Building and the school house until about 1914 when they acquired a lot at 363 NW 4th Street and put up a little frame building with no classrooms, no baptistery and no plumbing, but they were proud of it! Baptizing was generally done in the Miami River at the foot of NW 4th Street.

By 1921, they had outgrown the little frame building and constructed a larger, more adequate building on the same site, which served them for a number of years until it, too was outgrown.

During that time of growth at the Central Church of Christ, a tent meeting was conducted across from the old South Miami city hall in March, 1926. From this meeting came another congregation known as the South Miami Church of Christ. A small building was erected on property owned by members of the congregation, but that fall this little building was blown away by the great hurricane of September, 1926. After this another member donated a lot and members of the congregation erected a small frame building that could seat approximately 100 people.

In the 1950’s, both congregations outgrew their facilities and constructed new buildings on other sites. The Central congregation moved into their new building located at 425 NW 27th Ave. in June, 1959, and the South Miami congregation moved into their new building located at 8445 Sunset Drive in 1960. Other congregations were also begun in the area, as South Florida experienced a tremendous population explosion.

The South Miami congregation started a kindergarten in their building in 1960 to accommodate the young families in the area. In 1968, representatives from various congregations came together and eventually began to operate elementary schools in the church buildings of Homestead, South Miami, Hialeah, Andrews Avenue (Ft. Lauderdale), and Westwood Lake, forming Atlantic Christian Schools, which also had for a time a high school on its own campus. Redland Christian Academy (Homestead) and Tropical Christian School (Sunset) are still operating, but are now under the direction of those Churches.

The Central congregation began Spanish language worship services in May, 1968, as the neighborhood around that building gradually evolved from Anglo to bilingual and then into a predominantly Spanish-speaking area.

Sunset Church of Christ Is Born:

In the early 1980’s, both congregations looked toward moving farther west to better serve the growing population of young families moving into new housing being constructed there. There was good communication between the various congregations, and at one time, it was learned that both Central and South Miami were looking at the same piece of property in the western suburbs. This information led to discussions of merging the congregations, and on October 14, 1984, the elders of both congregations announced that after much prayer and discussion, the Central and South Miami churches would merge to become the Sunset Church of Christ.

The Central property was sold in 1985 and the two congregations met at the South Miami facility, requiring two Sunday morning services to accommodate everyone, with the Spanish-speaking members using the fellowship hall for their worship services. The South Miami property was sold in 1990, and the congregation met for Sunday morning worship at the Glades Middle School for about a year. Tropical Christian scaled back to kindergarten and first grade, and used the facilities at the Westwood Lake church of Christ. Spanish language worship and evening worship and classes were also conducted there thanks to the kindness and cooperation of that congregation. Offices were moved to a house owned by the church across the street from the old South Miami property.

Fifteen acres (later expanded to twenty acres) were purchased in “Horse Country” at 12001 SW 72nd St. (Sunset Drive), and facilities constructed to accommodate the merged congregation, Spanish language worship and Tropical Christian School. The building was finished and the first service was conducted on August 11 1991. Tropical Christian School re-opened with pre-kindergarten through third grade, and then annually added grades to its present Pre-K through 8th grade.

Hurricane Andrew “visited” the area on August 24, 1992, and the facilities were quickly turned into a food and building materials distribution center thanks to the generous response of congregations of the Church of Christ throughout the United States. Volunteer repair crews worked throughout the area, concentrating on those who were uninsured or underinsured for the storm damage.

Sunset Church of Christ, Today:

Sunset continues to be very aware of needs and opportunities for service in the area as we attempt to restore first century Christianity to the modern world.

The church at the beginning of the twenty-first century can only make progress by returning to the first century. Our reason for existence is to become the church one can read about in the Bible. Our plea is to be just Christians.

This plea does not arise out of an arrogant self-righteousness on our part, but an earnest desire for religious unity based completely on the Bible. We do not ask for man's allegiance to a human organization or system, only to Jesus Christ. Our task is to call men and women everywhere back to God's eternal Word. It is our only guide.

The focus of our faith is upon the person of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and our Lord. Only through His sacrificial death on the cross are we able to live in relationship with our Holy God. And that, incidentally, is why we wear His name. The "Church of Christ" is not a title used in a sectarian sense, but is intended to communicate our desire to belong fully to Christ.

Spiritual growth and development are difficult in a world that has too many answers to the same question. It would help to understand the question rather than just be told the answer. We have in-depth discussions of Scripture and life and how the two fit together. To be effective, the Bible must be practical and to be meaningful, life must have a spiritual element. We are not afraid to ask tough questions and find real answers.