Grace Fellowship Church of Westerville – 3475 Paris Blvd, Westerville, OH 43081
It was a wonderful rainy morning at Grace Fellowship Church of Westerville this morning. I was warmly greeted by Connie, and friends who introduced me to John one of the members who knew quite a lot about the musical department within the church. They have a lovely morning cafe that you can visit beginning around 9:30am prior to the 10:15am service. I’m finding a lot of churches are doing this since many people lead busy lives and don’t have the time to have fellowship after services as in the past.
The sanctuary has a very traditional feel with two levels. This church had, at its height, about 800 members I was told. I sat with Doug and his wife, Barbara, who invited me to join them. They introduced me to many other members which was nice to get to chat with many church members. The service was more traditional with a scholarly feel which I personally enjoyed. The Pastor, I was told, was originally from Russia. There is actually quite a large Russian community that I have brushed shoulders with when I used to work at Columbus Dance Centre in Gahanna many years ago. There was also a lovely soloist who sang a piece for the congregation during the service. This church also still has a choir. Many of the local churches seem to mostly have Christian rock bands rather than a church community choir.
After the service I was introduced to Vickie who took me into the history and beginnings of this church. It was built and opened up in 1967. Since then the building has had many upgrades and additions. I always love to hear the history of a church and the histories of its members and what brought them to a particular church. Many of the people who are members of this church are from the local immediate community. That seems to be a bit of a rarity. A lot of churches bring people in from much further outside of their immediate community these days which I have found surprising.
This church is definitely on my list of churches to revisit at some point in the future. Thank you so much for being so kind today here at this church.