After over 60 years, Meadowbrook Church of Christ moving, holding final service in Jackson

A prominent Christian church that has served as a landmark in northeast Jackson for over 60 years will be holding a final Sunday service at their present location this month to make way for a new elementary school campus.

Meadowbrook Church of Christ, located at 4261 Interstate 55 just north of The Barrington condominium complex on the west frontage road, will relocate to the Sunnybrook Children’s Home campus, 222 Sunnybrook Road in Ridgeland.

The independently operated Meadowbrook Preschool, which has been hosted by Meadowbrook Church of Christ for the past two decades, has also formed a new partnership with Jackson Preparatory School and will relocate this August to 2510 Lakeland Terrace off Lakeland Drive, site of the former New Summit School.

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Nearby St. Richard Catholic School, established in 1953, agreed to purchase the Meadowbrook church property for $2.5 million in 2023 and closed on the deal Jan. 11. The school plans to relocate their current 200-pupil elementary school to the facility effective January 2025.

St. Richard plans to repurpose the existing school building for use by the St. Richard Church parish.

St. Richard pastor Father Joe Tonos described the new location as a “perfect fit” for the elementary school, which currently operates at 100 Holly Drive just north of the church sanctuary.

Population shift

While the population shift from Jackson to suburban communities in recent years has led to lower enrollments in the city’s Catholic Schools, Tonos said he believes the new location for St. Richard will allow the school to “not only survive, but thrive.”

Approximately $1.9 million in renovations to the property are currently underway. The goal is to provide enough space for the school to potentially double its current enrollment for up to 400 students.

Asked whether he expects St. Richard to be successful in reaching that enrollment goal, Tonos said, “it’s in God’s hands.” But he described many current parents involved with the school as “enthusiastic” about the move and said the church remains committed to the City of Jackson.

St. Richard Interim Principal Russ Nelson said the first phase of renovations has begun in what was formerly the Meadowbrook Church Family Life Center.

“It is one of three separate buildings on the campus and will be turned into classrooms, a gym and a cafeteria,” Nelson said.

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Renovations

Renovations to the Meadowbrook Education Building, which will also be used for classrooms, is set to begin later this year, while the main sanctuary building will continue to be used as a chapel. Mid State Construction is the contractor in charge of the renovation project.

Tonos said the Education Building will be named in honor of lifelong St. Richard parishioner Eve Walsh who will retire this month after serving for 20 years in the school’s cafeteria. The chapel will be named in honor of the late Father Brian Kaskie, a Mississippi native who formerly served as chaplain at St. Joseph School and as pastor of St. Peter’s Cathedral in downtown Jackson.

Additional naming opportunities are available for contributors to the newly announced “Future Filled With Hope” capital campaign which the church hopes will raise funds necessary to repay a loan from the Catholic Diocese of Jackson used to purchase the Meadowbrook Church as well as pay for the renovations.

St. Richard is one of two currently operating Catholic elementary schools in Jackson, the other being Sister Thea Bowman School in west Jackson located at 1217 Hattiesburg St. That school was formed as a merger between Christ The King Pre-School and the former St. Mary Elementary School.

A third Jackson Catholic elementary school, St. Therese, previously served south Jackson, but was closed in 2014 due to declining enrollment.

Additionally, St. Joseph Catholic High School, which began in Jackson and currently operates in Madison, continues to draw students from throughout the metro area. Madison County is also home to the more recently established St. Anthony Catholic School for grades Pre-K through sixth grade, a ministry of St. Francis of Assisi Church.

Preschool forms a new partnership

The Meadowbrook Preschool, which serves children ages 6 months through 24 months, is closed for the summer but plans to reopen in August.

Crisler M. Boone, chief external affairs officer for Jackson Prep, said the preschool will continue to operate as it has in the past with the same name, administration, and faculty.

“Meadowbrook will continue to operate as an independent school. The difference is that Jackson Prep will now serve as its umbrella organization, much like Meadowbrook Church served as the umbrella organization previously,” she said.

The new location will operate from the southernmost building of the former New Summit School across from the North Jackson/Lakeland Park baseball and softball fields. The perimeter of the property is fully gated and includes its own playground.

Jackson Prep, which was founded in 1970, historically served grades seven through 12 but added Grade six in 2006 and Grade five in 2022. In the fall of 2023, it opened a new 26,000 square foot Lower School serving Grades PreK-3 through 4.

Boone said she believes the new partnership between Prep and Meadowbrook Preschool will further enhance the educational missions of both schools. “Meadowbrook is a much-needed preschool in the area,” she said.

Meadowbrook church has deep roots

Meadowbrook Church of Christ evolved from what was formerly known as the Central Church of Christ in Jackson, which in the 1950s was located on the northeast corner of North West Street and Yazoo Street downtown. That building, which is currently part of Galloway United Methodist Church, is believed to be about 180 years old and one of the oldest standing congregational structures in the city.

An Associated Press article from February, 1961 stated that the church building was believed to have been built with slave labor around 1844, more than two decades before conclusion of the Civil War and passage of the 13th amendment that abolished slavery.

Meadowbrook held their first service at the I-55 location on March 12, 1961. The church is currently led by Senior Pastor Brian Cunningham who joined the ministry staff in 2019.

According to the church’s website Cunningham is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who earned a B.S. in Business in 1999 from the University of Alabama. He later earned a Master’s of Christian Apologetics from Biola University in 2011, and is currently a PhD candidate at Liberty University Theological Seminary.

Cunningham declined to be interviewed for this article but confirmed via a text message on May 16 that the Meadowbrook congregation will be relocating to the Sunnybrook campus in June.

The first scheduled service at the new location in Ridgeland set for June 2.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson MS christian church moving to Ridgeland MS