Two Services, One Congregation on Walnut Street
On Sunday mornings in Cary, North Carolina, Christ the King Lutheran Church opens two doors at the same hour. At 8:30 and again at 11:00, the Sanctuary fills with a classic Lutheran liturgy carried by choir and organ, while next door in Nagle Hall a full band leads an upbeat contemporary set in the same weekly rhythm. The arrangement is intentional and decades in the making: Pastor Daniel Pugh Jr., the church's lead pastor since February 2024, describes both styles as equally valued, with the goal of letting every worshipper find a way to praise God that deepens the spiritual connection and grounds the week in Word, song, prayer, and sacraments.
Sunday worship is the heart of life at the church on 600 Walnut Street, and about half of the congregation joins from home through the livestream at ctkcary.com/live. Bulletins are posted online each week at ctkcary.com/bulletins. Holy Communion is offered at most services, and worship is led by Lead Pastor Daniel Pugh Jr., Associate Pastors Athena Thomasson-Bless and Melinda Merkley King, and the church's own seminarian, Tyler Ruddy, a Duke Divinity student who preaches, teaches confirmation, and supports the Young Adult ministry.
A Reconciling in Christ Welcome
Across the top of the church's materials is a line that captures the congregation's posture: All are welcome, no exceptions. Christ the King was approved as a Reconciling in Christ congregation in 2018 through ReconcilingWorks, and the welcome statement was revised and affirmed by the members in 2021. The language is plain and broad: whatever a person's race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status, physical or mental ability, economic circumstance, political persuasion, faith background, age, history, or station in life, they are named as part of the community the church wants to be. Members have committed to confronting racism and to practicing radical hospitality.
That commitment shows up in practical ways. Accessible parking sits on the lower level, push-button doors open into the atrium, main office, preschool, and two restrooms, and both worship spaces have ramps to the altar. Four of the seven restrooms are single-stall and all-gender. A Reconciling and Healing Team is available to help resolve issues, repair relationships, and report incidents, with a published statement of purpose, process, and reporting form.
Wednesdays Around the Table
Midweek is anchored by a long wooden table in Nagle Hall. Every Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., Kitchen Manager Chris Hegele and a team of volunteers plate a community supper, and at 6:30 p.m. (6:15 p.m. in summer months) the same room becomes a chapel for a brief service of worship. The dinner and worship pattern has become one of the most consistent gathering points in the life of the church, drawing members who want a midweek touchpoint and neighbors who simply want a meal. A suggested contribution of six dollars per meal or twenty-five dollars per family helps cover the cost, and an online giving page makes it easy to participate from afar.
The weekly cadence continues on Friday mornings at 11:15 a.m., when lay leaders lead a prayer service in the Chapel. Once a month, Pastor Melinda and Minister of Contemporary Music Derek Breshears take Holy Communion to residents of the Searstone Retirement Community, a partnership that began years ago and remains a steady pastoral link between the church and its older neighbors.
Six Decades on Walnut Street
The story of Christ the King begins in 1960, when the Lutheran Church in America Missions Board committed to plant a congregation near the new Research Triangle Park in the fast-growing town of Cary. The Rev. Henry R. Sink was called as mission developer, and in 1962 the mission acquired a 5.3-acre farm on Walnut Street, with a separate parsonage for the future pastor. After a house-to-house survey, forty-two people gathered in December 1963 to choose the name Christ the King.
On January 5, 1964, forty-seven worshippers carried an altar, candlesticks, and hymn books into the Cary High School cafeteria for the first service. Sunday School classes began the following week, a youth group put up the first Chrismon tree on the property, and the Lutheran men prepared the lot for an Easter sunrise service. By the end of the year, sixty-two confirmed members and forty-one children had made the new mission their church home, and the congregation was officially chartered on December 13, 1964. Rev. Sink was called as the first pastor in 1965.
The first building went up on the Walnut Street property in 1967. As the surrounding community grew, so did Christ the King: in 1976 a new sanctuary with room for 350 worshippers was dedicated, and a connector building was added for offices, preschool classrooms, a multipurpose room, and a parlor. The original sanctuary was rededicated as Luther Chapel. In 2001, the light-filled atrium and a multipurpose worship space - eventually named Nagle Hall in honor of the Rev. Dr. John Nagle, who had served the congregation since 1969 - opened to accommodate contemporary worship and large-group gatherings. A columbarium was added in 1998. The property now hosts roughly 150 outside groups each month, from scout troops to support circles to civic meetings.
A Lutheran Identity, an ELCA Home
Christ the King is an ELCA congregation, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that formed in 1988 from the merger of the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. Members helped found Pan Lutheran Ministries in 1980, which continues today as Families Together, providing housing and support for families in crisis. Youth have attended ELCA national gatherings in San Antonio, Atlanta, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Dallas across the decades, with twenty-three young people and leaders most recently joining the 2024 gathering in New Orleans.
The Lutheran tradition is taught here in a way that draws on the wider Christian world. Members of the congregation point to Martin Luther's teaching that God's grace is greater than any measure of sin, a conviction rooted in 2 Corinthians, "My grace is sufficient for you." The Bible is honored as a beautiful and challenging library, with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John receiving a special place in worship. The congregation also names a respect for the sacred practices of other religions and a commitment to working together for a more just and compassionate world.
Care for One Another
Looking after one another is built into the rhythm of the church. Stephen Ministry launched in 1993, when three members took leadership training and then commissioned thirteen caregivers who had each spent more than seventy-five hours preparing for one-on-one, confidential, Christ-centered care. New classes of Stephen Ministers have continued to be trained ever since, walking alongside people in grief, illness, and other major life transitions.
CareConnect, started in 2011, layers a software platform on top of that personal care. Volunteers call members to identify needs - meals, rides, greeting cards, prayers, visits - and route the requests to care teams. Pastors track the status and add notes, and new services are added as the community identifies them.
For deeper conversations, three practitioners work through the church office. Heidi Kleine is a credentialed life and leadership coach with ELCA-specific training in Discipleship, Mission Development, and Congregational Vitality. Pam Northrup, an ordained pastor and former hospice chaplain, offers spiritual direction. Heather Olson, a former pastor and hospital chaplain who completed a residency with the VA Hospital, sees members as a pastoral counselor; she offers visits online and at the church and also speaks Spanish.
Beyond the Walls
Christ the King has long reached past its property line. In 1968 the congregation joined with other small Cary churches of different races and denominations to found Christian Community in Action. The organization ran a free kindergarten, brought a public health clinic and literacy classes to town, and sold gently used children's clothing in bags for ten cents each. The clothing closet outgrew its space, became the Dorcas Thrift Shop, and grew into Dorcas Ministries, which today runs a thrift store in a mall alongside a large food pantry. Christ the King members continue to volunteer and donate to Dorcas.
Refugee resettlement has been part of the church's outreach since 1975, when members partnered with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to welcome two Vietnamese refugees after the fall of Saigon. That sponsorship ministry has continued for fifty years. In 2020 Christ the King joined as a founding member of OneWake, a county-wide effort to address affordable housing and other shared concerns. The congregation also partners with Agape Kure Beach Ministries, supports Lutheran World Relief through a quilting group that has produced more than 3,100 quilts since 1992, and dedicates a portion of its budget to ecojustice work, including the solar panel array that helps power the Walnut Street campus.
The CTK Preschool
CTK Preschool began in September 1970 as Christ the King Kindergarten with eight students and has since taught thousands of children. From a single room in the original building, the program expanded to classrooms both upstairs and downstairs, and a new playground was constructed in 2012. Director Elizabeth Graham leads a staff shaped by the conviction that all children deserve a loving place to learn and grow, and that the great outdoors is the ultimate classroom. The preschool is a daily presence on the lower level of the church, with its own accessible entrance and a mission that gives the building a steady stream of small children, laughter, and noise.
Music Across Styles
Music sits at the center of both worship expressions. Choral Director and Organist Christian Schoen brings more than thirty years of sacred music leadership, including international choral tours to Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral and experience founding choral programs based on the Royal School of Church Music curriculum. The traditional services in the Sanctuary feature choir and organ, with full choral offerings at festival services. Minister of Contemporary Music Derek Breshears, who joined the staff in 2023 after teaching music in Southern Alamance and leading music at Orange United Methodist Church, shapes the contemporary band's repertoire in Nagle Hall. Mark Hartman, the Production and IT Specialist, coordinates the livestream and audio-visual teams that carry worship online, a digital ministry that began in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained a permanent part of how the church worships.
Groups for Every Season
Groups are the connective tissue of the congregation. The Ministries page lists nine broad categories: Youth for grades 3-12, Young Adults open to anyone between high school and settling down, Families, Adults, Community Engagement, Civic Life, Caring Ministries, Worship Teams, and Faith Formation. Within those buckets sit book clubs, prayer circles, woodworking and craft groups, support groups, a Stephen Ministry team, quilters, the CareConnect volunteers, and seasonal studies.
Worship teams - musicians, lay readers, ushers, greeters, communion assistants, and audiovisual volunteers - keep the two Sunday services running and are coordinated through Worship Coordinator Cheryl Fleming. Lilly Duncan became Director of Youth and Family in August 2026, with a focus on making the gospel accessible to the youngest learners and creating intentional spaces for children and youth to feel seen and heard. Kevin Cook, the Stewardship Director, walks members through the practical side of generosity; giving to the general fund, solar panels, or the pastors' discretionary fund is available online through the church's giving platform.
Pastors and Staff
Lead Pastor Daniel Pugh Jr. joined the staff in July 2017 after five years of ministry in Winston-Salem. After serving as associate and executive pastor, he became Christ the King's fifth senior pastor in February 2024 and continues as Director of Vision, Strategy, and Development. He and his wife Ashley, both Raleigh-raised, are the parents of Jacob, Thomas, and Avery.
Associate Pastor Athena Thomasson-Bless was called in February 2020 and serves as Director of Worship and Community Engagement, with particular attention to social ministry, advocacy, and biblical and theological literacy. She and her wife Sam live in Cary with sons Walter and Ernest. Associate Pastor Melinda Merkley King arrived in March 2025 and serves as Director of Congregational Life and Faith Formation. She and her husband Brian live in Apex with their dog Truffle and have two young adult sons, Oliver and Isaac.
Tyler Ruddy, a Duke Divinity seminarian who joined in September 2025, supports the Young Adult ministry and Confirmation classes. Heidi Kleine (Certified Coach), Pam Northrup (Spiritual Director), and Heather Olson (Pastoral Counselor) round out the pastoral care team. Sherry Hartman serves as Executive Admin supporting the pastors, Stephanie Terry as Business Manager, Molly Rohrbaugh as Communications Specialist, and the church office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visiting Christ the King
First-time visitors are greeted at the main entrance into the atrium. From there it is a short walk to either the Sanctuary for traditional worship or Nagle Hall for contemporary worship. The two styles run at identical hours - 8:30 and 11:00 on Sundays - so worshippers can choose their preference or sample both on a single morning. Midweek visitors can join the Wednesday community dinner at 5:45 p.m. in Nagle Hall or the Friday morning prayer service at 11:15 a.m. in the Chapel.
Worship is livestreamed at ctkcary.com/live, and sermons are posted on YouTube, distributed as a podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, and Amazon, and shared through the church's weekly news and bulletin links. The congregation's music is also available on Spotify. For those ready to dig deeper, a Connect form and the Groups directory on the church's Church Center account make it easy to find a small group, a volunteer team, or a Bible study.
Christ the King sits on Walnut Street in the heart of Cary, and its purpose - making disciples who learn, live, and tell the story of God's grace - has shaped the congregation from a forty-seven-person house church in a high school cafeteria to a multi-staff, dual-style parish with livestreamed worship, a preschool, a long-running outreach portfolio, and a deep commitment to the neighbors inside and outside its walls.