Tour the New Sovereign Grace Community Church on June 8 and 9
In which I revisit favorite news pieces from 2024.
Originally published in the Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch on May 21, 2024. The Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch is part of MidValley Publications - committed to the power of the positive press. Reprinted with Permission.
Twenty-five years ago, Sovereign Grace Community Church was founded by a group of four families in search of a place to worship that was close to home, grounded in the Bible, and linked to a hierarchy. They founded Sovereign Grace Community Church in 1998, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and in those 25 years, they have seen the gifts of God unfold.
Now, without a scrap of debt, those five elders and the three pastors who have shepherded the little church, that began at the high school band room before moving to a midcentury dentist’s office, will come together for a weekend of prayer, fellowship, and tours of the new church.
The church was completed earlier this year. Packed “like sardines” in the former church, the new church has seen its membership increase from 60 members last year to 120 this spring. The sanctuary easily accommodates 200 and has a maximum capacity of 300.
Walking into the new building through the clear glass doors, with natural wood overhead and white and cream stone facing, the pastor’s office and seedlings to a children’s bookstore stand to the left. To the right is the entrance to the sanctuary, a spacious worship space with pared-down modern colors that avoid veering into the trendy by using deep slate gray, white and cream. Olive trees flank the pulpit.
Throughout the design, a sense of community permeates the building.
“This isn’t a performance,” Joe Hendrex explains as we face the front of the sanctuary during a tour before the open house and anniversary. “The congregation is the choir.”
Without putting too much pressure on attendees, Hendrex explains how deeply grounded the community church is in family and fellowship. “I truly believe Sovereign Grace is not a place to come to the church. It's a place to come and become part of the church. We have an unbelievable family atmosphere. When I say family, I don't mean my little family. I mean, the family of God,” he said.
Whole families are baptized together. Beyond the pastor’s office is the entrance to a nursery where breastfeeding mothers have space to tend their babies, surrounded by a remarkable wall mural painted by Alexandra Riddle, depicting the “beauty of God’s creation,” and a small outdoor play space with double fencing for double safety. The room is set off and welcoming for those with children under age 4, with plans to connect to a live stream of the service in the future.
However, when families are ready with their young ones, the nursery is not the only option for bringing their children to church. A “child training room” sits in the back of the sanctuary, with windows connecting them with those in the main space. It is a place to help children learn to attend church. The community does not offer a separate worship program for children but rather emphasizes the child’s membership alongside the adult’s membership. “That just permeates who we are, that the children are really members of the church. In all the sermons, there's normally something in the sermon that the children can pick up each week.”
The training room is there to help children get the wiggles out while they learn what it means to attend Sunday’s service.
The former church is now a multipurpose space with folding tables and room for catechism class, that is, Sunday School, a question-and-answer approach to learning the tenets of the faith. Surrounding the expanded campus is a short, wrought iron fence to keep children safe as families gather to socialize.
Off-campus, Hendrex and Pastor Jonathan Bartlett explain the importance of connecting with families outside of workshop services. That takes the form of a “visitation” ministry, spending time with families outside of Sundays with social activities like fishing trips, shooting trips, baseball days, youth fellowship for teenagers, Kids Club during summer Wednesday nights and monthly activities for families.
The public is invited to an Open House at Sovereign Grace Community Church at 7201 Hughson Ave in Hughson on Saturday, June 8 and 9, 2024, to celebrate the completion of the new building and 25 years since its founding. Saturday starts with a Thanksgiving service at 1 p.m., followed by an open house, tours and refreshments until 4 p.m. Special services will be held on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., with a special presentation by former pastors Mark Richline and Mark Wheat at 11 a.m. potluck lunch and 1:30 p.m. closing service.
Sovereign Grace Community Church is located at 7201 Hughson Ave in Hughson. They worship at 9:30 a.m., and Sunday school follows at 11 a.m. For more information, call 209-448-9472 or visit sovereigngracecommunitychurch.org.
The cost for a one-year subscription to the Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch is $89. The newspaper is delivered weekly through USPS. For a weekly dose of print media with positive, local stories, and written by humans, subscribe by calling our main office, MidValley Publications (209) 358-5311.