Grace Fellowship Church of Shrewsbury dreams big with purchase of former Kmart plaza
YORK, Pa., Dec 08, 2012 (Menafn - York Daily Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --When Grace Fellowship Church moved into the former Kmart in Shrewsbury Township three years ago, church officials needed space for the 400 people who worshipped every Sunday.
That number has since tripled.
"We are running at capacity right now," said the Rev. Jeff Smith, lead pastor at the Shrewsbury church. "In the children's ministry, sometimes we're at 120 percent."
Grace Fellowship is a campus of the nondenominational Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium, Md. It began in October 2007, initially renting space in Shrewsbury Elementary School.
The move to lease the former Kmart shopping center was so successful, the church bought the property from Hill Management in Timonium. In September, Grace finalized a 2.5 million deal for the 118,000-square-foot building and nearly 18 acres.
Smith and the church elders hope to turn the property into a "dream center" to serve southern York County. That means partnerships with area churches and nonprofits.
"The plan is that we would join people in what they are already doing and this dream center would become a pipeline for justice," Smith said.
Smith said Grace is trying to follow the example outlined in the best-selling book "The Church That Never Sleeps," by Matthew Barnett. It tells the story of the Rev. Barnett and his L.A. International Church efforts in downtown Los Angeles.
The 5-year-old church now leads more than 200 ministries, feeding roughly 10,000 people weekly, distributing more than 1,000 articles of clothing monthly, and caring for addicts.
Ben Abell, senior leadership pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium, said the growth of the Shrewsbury satellite church has been "spectacular."
"It has literally been extraordinary what the Lord has done," he said. "It grew faster than any of us probably ever imagined."
Grace offers a welcoming atmosphere, contemporary worship and sound
biblical teaching that "connects Sunday to Monday," Abell said of the church's popularity.
First partner
Smith visited Barnett's church, as well as a dream center in Seattle. The idea starts by engaging others, he said, such as the Southern York County Pantry.
The pantry is headquartered at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and is happy there, said Ed Smith, no relation to Jeff Smith. But the 900 square feet at St. John isn't enough, and pantry operations are spread out among several other locations.
By spring, Ed Smith expects the pantry to be relocated to the Grace dream center.
"We'll be more efficient to start with and we'll be able to have everything under one roof -- the office and everything," said Ed Smith, one of several volunteers who manage the pantry.
The pantry served about 1,000 families in 2011, he said, and is up about 25 percent this year. For Thanksgiving, the pantry bought 35,000 worth of groceries.
To serve that many people requires a lot of space.
"It's just one thing right after another," Ed Smith said. "We don't have enough cold storage. ... And when we have to buy things, you can't buy in small quantities because you pay too much for it. So we look for things in bigger quantities."
Refurbishing the space at the former Kmart should not take long, said Ed Smith, adding that he started attending Grace Fellowship about six months ago.
"One thing about Grace, once
they decide to do something, they move," he said. "It's quite a phenomenal church, what they've been able to do in such a short period of time. It's primarily because they have so many dedicated people."
Grace is in discussions with several other local churches and nonprofits, Jeff Smith said. There are no plans to charge any tenants rent.
"We've had four local organizations approach us without us even bringing it up," Jeff Smith said.
Improvements needed
Paul Solomon, former Shrewsbury Township supervisor and current planning commission member, said the Kmart property needs a lot of work.
"We're all hopeful that the church can do a lot of good work in there and upgrade the site," he said.
The sale was financed through Fulton Bank, Jeff Smith said, giving the church a hefty financial commitment years into the future. Eventually, Grace hopes to expand the church site and make it the centerpiece of the dream center, Jeff Smith said.
But all of the plans will come in good time, he added.
"We believe God gave us the shopping center in order to give it to the region," he said. "But we don't want to get ahead of God. We're trusting him to guide us every step of the way."
@jhilton32; 717-771-2024
The Vision
Read about the plans Grace Fellowship Church has for the former Kmart shopping center by visiting the church website at www.gfcshrewsbury.org.
Click on the "2011 Vision" icon at the top of the page to download the 58-page document.
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