Grace Presbyterian Church Celebrates 100 + 1 Years

 The congregation of Grace Presbyterian Church looked eagerly forward to a year-long celebration of its one hundredth anniversary, scheduled for October 2020. Each month was to celebrate one decade of Grace’s life in the church; each month, during the worship service, a “speaker from the past” would address the congregation; each month, music of the decade would be featured by the choir. A museum of the decade was to be featured in the parlor. A history book would be published; an original play, called “The Decades Speak,” was presented during the kick-off celebration; a grand finale banquet was booked. And then, in the third month, the third decade… COVID.
     The church closed its doors and the celebration ground to a halt. But the activity inside the quarantined homes never ceased. There would be no public performances but the work of the committees continued. The research into the history of Grace Church intensified, ending in a book of nearly forty pages.
     Grace Church began in 1920 as a mission church, branched out from Lakewood Presbyterian Church on Marlowe and Detroit. The members who lived on Madison Avenue, if they had no car (few did), would have to take a streetcar down to 117th street, transfer to Detroit Avenue and transfer again to the church. In the summer it was inconvenient; in the winter it was a disaster. The Madisonites petitioned to purchase land for a mission church on the present site at 1659 Rosewood Avenue.    

     In 1917 a small white chapel was built. They named themselves “The Community Church” because they felt that their mission was to serve the community of Lakewood and its surrounding areas. By 1920, they felt that they could now stand on their own, boasting ninety-nine members and one hundred seventy-five children. They petitioned the Presbytery and became an independent congregation in October 1920.     

    
     By the end of the decade they knew that they needed a much larger sanctuary. They hired an architect who drew plans for a massive stone “cathedral” and began construction. But as soon as the basement was completed disaster foiled their plans. The depression stopped construction for, being true to their mission of serving the community, all funds and efforts went to serving the now-destitute families of the community. For the next two decades people in Lakewood nicknamed Grace “The Basement Church” because the ever-growing congregation met and worshipped in the basement of their future cathedral.

      Following the depression came World War II and again, the mission of Grace depleted all building funds. Twenty-seven percent of the congregation, both men and women, went off to serve their country. The remaining congregation threw themselves into helping the families of the soldiers, with food, clothing and emotional support. Their efforts were recognized by the larger Presbyterian organization: they received the Presbyterian Citation of Honor in recognition of “distinguished service to God and humanity through participation in the Wartime Service Program of the General Assembly (1942-43).”

     At last, in the fifties, the congregation realized that they would never have enough money to erect their English cathedral. Taking a realistic look at how much money they had, they now envisioned a new church, a modern church, to reflect the forward looking mission of Grace. This would have rising arches reaching toward Heaven and clear glass windows looking out on the community which they would serve.  

          In 1954 the vaulting roof arches arrived from California: a new type of laminated wood, each made up of many pieces, steamed and pressed into one very solid piece. As the arches, wrapped in paper, were hoisted into place, traffic jams clogged Madison and Hilliard as folks gaped at the rising edifice. Would-be construction workers gathered on the sidewalks to offer advice to one another, half expecting the whole thing to go down like dominoes. No one had ever seen anything like it. The radically different church did not go unnoticed by the press. In 1956, WNBC-TV’s morning show out of New York, “The Dave Garroway Show” contacted Grace to do a feature on the “New Look In Churches.” So Grace Church appeared coast to coast as an example of forward looking architecture in churches.

     The mission of Grace Church never stopped. The Lakewood Meals-On-Wheels originated in the kitchen of Grace as the ladies cooked (from scratch) and delivered forty-seven meals every day. They also worked diligently in the food pantries of Cleveland.

       The Grace members noticed that Cleveland citizens had access to the Cleveland Food Pantry but the citizens of Lakewood did not. Therefore Grace reached out to other churches in Lakewood and, leading the way, founded the Lakewood Christian Service Center (now known as the Lakewood Service Center). Grace volunteers, both men and women, worked diligently so that the Lakewood homeless could get food and assistance in finding housing.

      Grace Church traditionally reached out to the men and women of the Joint Veterans Council of Western Cuyahoga County. Beginning in the late 1960’s, continuing through the 70’s, and to this day, Memorial Day was dedicated to all the veteran groups in the area. The veteran men and women march down the aisle, under the many different flags of the United States, to present their colors across the front of the sanctuary. In 1977 Grace was awarded The George Washington Award of the Freedom Foundation.

       Today, on Grace’s One Hundred Plus Anniversary, Grace is still committed to service to the community. The congregation has begun its forward movement to serve the community just as it always has and as it always will. Even though, like so many small churches, it faces many new challenges, the members say that, “If we follow God’s will and do as He wishes, we will be here until the Rapture.”