Southside Church of Christ is a group of people who have come to know the love of God, who have been united together in Jesus Christ, and who seek to share His message of good news locally, nationally and internationally.

We are an independent church, in that we are not governed by any outside denominational structure.  We pattern ourselves after the New Testament church we see revealed in the Hoy bible.  We are led by a group of Elders that are appointed by the congregation to direct the affairs of the church and provide spiritual guidance and direction in accordance with the Word of God.

We seek to be non-denominational, encouraging all Christians to put aside man-made creeds and titles.  We simply call ourselves Christians, and use the Holy Bible as our only rule of faith, morality, and religious practice.

We welcome you to our assemblies.!

A History of Southside Church of Christ

On the first Sunday of 2001 the Southside congregation marked its forty-first year of existence.  Its emergence was the result of the desire of ten people who met during the fall of 1959 with Basil Overton in the home of Robert Collier on Arcadia Park.  They discussed the feasibility of meeting to worship together in Lexington, and in that meeting the decision was made to assemble and worship as the Lords' people known as the Southside Church of Christ.  Meeting in the chapel on the campus of the old College of the Bible (currently the Lexington Theological Seminary), the church held its first worship service on January 3, 1960.  Only four families constituted the church at Southside then, although thirty people were present at the first assembly.  This small number grew rapidly, and soon sixty were worshipping God together.  After meeting for six months at the College of the Bible, the church purchased a dwelling at its present address of 1533 Nicholasville Road, modified its interior, and began meeting there permanently.  The present auditorium was constructed on that site in 1961, the first worship service being conducted there on January 7, 1962.  The Educational wings were completed in two stages, one in the fall of 1971, and the other in the summer of 1976.  In 1983-4 the auditorium was expanded, and the north educational wing remodeled. In 1998 the auditorium and parts of the educational wing were given a face-lift.  August 2000 marked the completion of a new 2-story wing for offices and additional space with an expanded entrance foyer. 

Since 1960 the following men have served as pulpit ministers for the congregation:  Basil Overton, Howard Emerson, Ron Bryant, Jerry Hollis, Jerry Harvill, Ken Neller, Kevin Wooten and Tom Sibley.  Bryan Barrett has been with us since August 1999.  John Peden was hired as our Campus Minister in 1975, followed by Ken Durham and Craig Culbertson.  Kevin Wooten has been ministering to the "Cats for Christ" since December 1989.  Jerry Savage was our first Youth Minister in 1975, since then Stan Sizemore, Terry Hester, Daniel Stockstill and Ed Bass have filled that position.  Michael Fann has been with us since July 1999.  Bill Nolan served as our Counseling and Family Involvement Minister from 1991-2001.  "My School", our Thursday morning mother's day out has been functioning for over 20 years, Patty Rhodes is the current director.  Lesa McKenzie was our first Children's Ministry Leader, succeeded by Leslie Davis (birth-kindergarten) and Joy Lassiter (grades 1-5), Shonna Anthony took over from Joy at the beginning of 2003.

The congregation consists of folks from all walks of life.  We have 255 family units and 570 individuals on the church roll.  A significant number of families have children covering the spectrum from babies to college age.   Lexington is a transient community. A good percentage of our members have been with us for 5 years or less.  There are currently 35 High School teens, the majority of whom are actively involved in our Youth Ministry.  The "Cats for Christ" average 50-70 people at  "Encounter" every Wednesday while school is in session, in Room 230 of the Student Center at UK.  A small percentage of our congregation are retired, the "Senior Servers" meet monthly for fellowship and to plan community service.  They also meet every 1st Tuesday for Bible Study.