Grace in Lexington

The News-Gazette, October 1, 2008

"Church To Worship at New Site"

On October 5th the congregation of Grace Presbyterian Church will meet for worship at its property on Greenhouse Road where its new church will be constructed.

The church called its first pastor, Rev. Ed Walker, in 1952, meeting in what was then the Mayflower Hotel. Needing its own place to worship, the church bought its current building, located at 506 S. Main Street. This building had been a private residence, an apartment building and even a fraternity house before being purchased by the church. The sanctuary was added to the original building.

For many years after moving into their current building members of the church would go out into the surrounding countryside to give rides to children throughout the county so they could attend church. The ministry grew during those days, but by the early 1970’s the ministry had fallen on hard times. Numbers were down. It was difficult to find pastors to come. The church, which had been independent though Presbyterian, decided to affiliate with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, a small denomination begun in 1965.

The Rev. Fred McFarland came with his family to minister at Grace in 1972. But within a few months of his arrival, there was a fire which made the sanctuary unusable. Because the numbers were still low, the church faced a decision on whether it would remain open or be forced to close for financial reasons. After many prayers and discussions the congregation voted to remain open and trust God to provide as they needed. Slowly the church began to grow again.

In 1982 the church joined with the Presbyterian Church in America which is a theologically conservative denomination formed in 1973. Rev. McFarland remained until 1983 and then moved to a church in Arizona. Soon after he became a full-time Chaplain in the United States Air Force and now serves as a Lt. Colonel.

In 1984, the Rev. Paul Carter was called to come as pastor. He, and his family, moved to Lexington in July of that year and into the manse which was then the second floor of the church. After nine years the church had grown so that it was necessary for the Carter family to move out of the building and into their own house. In a short time it became obvious that the current building could no longer support the ministry growth.

So the congregation began to look at how they might expand or change the current building in order to meet the needs of the ministry. But it proved impossible to do so adequately and so the church began a search for new property. A site was purchased and the old building was put up for sale. But another site, on Greenhouse Road, which seemed to serve the needs of the church better, became available.

After many prayers and discussions about the ministry needs, the first site was put up for sale and work began to purchase the second site, which is part of a new development called Greenhouse Village. It’s on this site that the church will meet for worship in October.

Ministry growth has continued. Students from Washington and Lee and VMI have brought greater excitement to the church but further strain the current building, showing the more urgent need for a new facility. But the church needs to sell its current properties before going forward with the new building project. Nonetheless, the movement toward this goal has been very positive.

The initial capital campaign was successful, garnering more funding than was committed, both properties are paid off, architectural work is finished, a builder is hired, and site work for the new building is nearly completed. For these things they give thanks to God. In case of rain the service will be in the current building.

For more information on the church or the worship service, go to the web-site www.gracerockbridge.org.