About Grace Lutheran Church
Grace Lutheran Church was founded in 1958 as Huntsville's first Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and is part of the Southern District. Grace has enjoyed a growth pattern paralleling that of Huntsville. Our present membership includes 845 baptized members (618 confirmed), representing almost every state in the union and several foreign countries.
In 1963, Grace started a kindergarten. Grace Lutheran School was born, and added a grade or two every year until 1969. The pre-kindergarten, 7th and 8th grades were added in 1977-1978. The Lutheran Church has had a rich history of creating Christian schools, and the founding members of Grace felt they could do no less then maintain that tradition.
Our church staff consists of our Pastor, Rev. Kevin Ardnt; Kevin Brandon, our youth minister; Dr. Ellinor White, Grace's principal; as well as a music director, Christian Education Director, Business Manager, Facilities Coordinator, and several church and school secretaries. Our school has 9 full time and 6 part time teachers.
Grace is a friendly congregation intentionally geared to reaching out in Christian love to visitors and fellow members alike. Under our pastor's direction, we have begun the Tentmaker's Program to learn how to better evangelize and talk to people. With the third tenet of our mission being, "To boldly share the love of Jesus", this program will help our members gain the knowledge, courage and confidence to share our faith with the community.
Currently, the church and school are in the midst of a huge renovation project. The first part of this two (or three) phased program was to replace the large windows above the sanctuary, make the original building more wheel-chair friendly, and build a large nursery complex. That part of construction was completed (and celebrated) on April 10, 2005. The second phase of the building project is a Family Life Center. This facility will house a new gym, a large kitchen, a youth room, several classrooms and the school office. We are tremendously excited about this new project!
In fall of 2005 we started a new program, making full use of our new nursery facility. "Mommy's Time Out" gives women (and men) a chance to get out of the house, run some errands, or just have a few minutes of peace from their little ones.
Grace provides many ways to share in worship and praise on a weekly basis:
- Every week we have several worship services, each a different style: Traditional Worship using the Lutheran hymnal, a Praise Worship, and a Blended Worship.
- Grace Loving Care (GLC) or Circles are small groups of members that meet on a periodic basis, either at the church or at someone's home for relational Bible study, caring for each other, and the sharing of life's experiences.
- In addition to the school, Grace has a large youth program ranging from 6th grade through college. We have a full time youth minister to mentor to the children, encourage family participation, and supervise confirmation classes. After confirmation, high school students are encouraged to help with the next flock of confirmands. The youth generally take a couple trips a year, doing anything from missionary work in impoverished areas of our state, to skiing in Ohio. The Family Life Center will be a definite asset to the youth, in providing them with more accessible space.
- Grace's music ministry is a large part of both weekly services, and special presentations around the holiday seasons. We have an adult choir, several children's choirs, a cappella choirs, an adult bell choir, a youth bell choir, and a children's chime choir. There are several members that participate in the worship team leadership and band for the contemporary service.