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Saving Grace
It is a typical week at Grace Church.
On Tuesday, a three year-old Hispanic child said his first sentence
in English: "I am special."
On Thursday, a young mother received free legal counseling to help
her collect child support.
On Friday, the city's only newspaper in the Khmer language went
to press.
Saturday, 128 children showed up to receive inoculations.
And on Sunday, people representing five races, four generations
and three languages gathered in an 88-year-old cathedral to worship
one Lord, celebrating their motto, "Out of many, God makes
us one."
Grace United Methodist Church is a historic landmark, a shelter
for those in need, a vital community resource, a symbol of hope
in a challenging neighborhood and a place where people offer helping
hands and open hearts.
Grace church is a treasurer worth saving. And it is in serious need
of repair.
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The Heritage
In almost a century of existence, Grace Church
has seen tremendous changes in the neighborhood it serves. During
the late Twenties, the all-white, silk-stocking congregation claimed
mayors, business leaders and affluent Swiss Avenue residents. Now,
a rainbow of ethnic groups from Asia to West Africa have found a
spiritual home at Grace.
As the neighborhood changed, Grace changed with it, steadfastly
serving its community through thick and thin: rolling bandages during
World War I, holding cooking classes for rationed food in World War
II, maintaining food pantries and clothes closets for a population
whose cultural diversity and social needs continue to grow. More
recently, East Dallas Cooperative Parish, a national model of neighborhood
service and congregational renewal, was born at Grace.
With such grass-roots programs and its open-arms attitude, Grace
Church has remained faithful in a neighborhood that has seen one
congregation after another pack up and leave. East Dallas is a complex
neighborhood where optimism and despair live side by side. While
visionaries plan the revitalization of the community, many
stabilizing
influences have already gone, making the need for Grace to carry
on its ministry ever more vital.
Grace's staying power is a tribute to the endurance of its congregation.
Living symbols of faith and vision that hold the church together,
many of Grace's "durable saints" have been members for more
than half a century. |
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