During
those early days, services were held in a variety of buildings around town with
the Lyceum Theater building (third floor) being mentioned by Mrs. Kautz.
In the late ‘30’s, as the church became more organized and had more
members, the little house at the corner of Florence and Boylston Streets was
purchased and remodeled into some semblance of a
church.
By the mid ‘50’s, there was the need to find a better facility. And in 1958, the Lord directed us to the
building being used by the Orthodox Jews for their sanctuary. They were in the process of merging with the other synagogue and building
a new temple.
After some negotiation Grace bought the building, including the
theater-style pews. Some remodeling
was required, but we held the dedication service in early 1959. It was a wonderful experience to have a
real church building in which to worship and have all the other
activities.
All went smoothly as one pastor after another led our congregation. From 1952 until 1973, five pastors wore
the mantle of leadership. This
constant change may have helped to cause a diminishing membership. The last of these men was Rev. Bill Willson,
who only stayed one year.
So, in 1974, we were again without a shepherd and attendance fell to what
was probably an all time low. In
frustration and fear the members had a number of meetings to decide what to
do. At one point, there was a
strong feeling to close the doors permanently. Finally, however,
at the urging of Eastern District President Herman Frincke, and instigation by
several members, notably, Frank Allen, it was decided to use the funds we had
acquired from selling the parsonage and make another
try.
President Frincke then went about the business of finding the right man
to be our pastor. The Lord chose
Rev. J. Arthur Cox, a second career pastoral graduate from the Springfield
Seminary. He was installed in July 1975.
With the coming of Pastor Cox, the situation began to change. Here is how he remembers it, “In the
beginning of my ministry things were desperate at Grace. Few, including the District President,
thought that Grace would survive.
We needed to know God’s plan for the congregation. The first thing I did was promote adult
Bible study initially on Sunday morning and six months later on Thursday night
as well. The goal was to discover
God’s vision for Grace. We decided
that God wanted Grace to reach out to the lost in Bradford and beyond with the
Gospel. The second thing that was
developed was a prayer ministry. We
had the vision but did not know how to implement it so we asked the Lord for
guidance. As this ministry expanded
and the adult Bible studies expanded, the Lord grew the church. In summary, we just fumbled around,
hoping that the Lord would do something constructive if we prayed and
studied. A lot of mistakes
were made, but through it all, the Lord abundantly blessed the people of Grace
as He promises to continue to do well into the future.”
And with that, soon we were running out of space. As we searched for ways to expand the
capacity of our facility, it came to our attention that the former A & P
supermarket building, standing empty for several years, would be available to us
at a realistic price.
Again negotiation began and a search for funding developed. In time these were accomplished and we
made the purchase in about 1978 or ’79.
An architect was hired. More
fundraisers were developed. Finally, a contractor was engaged to construct the
sanctuary. Although the plans were
there, we did not proceed with the rest of the building until later. The first service in our new sanctuary
occurred on Easter Sunday, 1981.
The
formal dedication was held on May 3, 1981.
Now attendance began to grow again.
We were to experience growth each year and when congregational members
completed the other part of the construction, we finally had excellent
facilities for the Lord’s mission and ministry.
With the promise, or at least the hope, of future progress, acquisition
of adjoining properties was pursued.
As of today our property has nearly doubled from its original
status. It extends from Mechanic
Street to Pearl Street with far greater width than the original
purchase.
In 2000
pastor Art retired, and pastor Eddie from Texas came on board.
Grace
has grown steadily in recent years, approaching the 500 baptized mark last
year. The most recent records show
that Grace has approximately 200 family units on its rolls. Reflecting the local community, the membership
is a broad snapshot of the area, comprised primarily of middle income families
with the growing emphasis on families below the age of 40. And the
opportunities for continued growth show no signs of slowing. New membership classes have been held on
a constant schedule, rotating throughout the year. Within the past two years more than 120
adults have joined small ministry groups, meeting on a weekly basis outside the
church. This past year Grace was
recognized as one of the fastest growing, non-urban congregations in the
Synod.
Grace Lutheran became an entity
in about 1924 or ‘25, through the efforts of a Pastor Polizen from New York State, along with Mr. Paul
Kautz.