"This summer it will be 48 years since my family moved to the Warsaw/Winona Lake area and my parents chose to make Community Grace our church home. I was just a toddler at the time. We had been attending the North Canton Grace Brethren Church prior to our move and lived closer to many other churches but because of Warsaw Christian School being part of the church at the time, my parents felt Community Grace was the place for us. My mom prayed that if she were to have a teaching position with WCS, they would reach out to her, and God answered that prayer by having them offer her a position as a kindergarten teacher. My mom had been a teacher and headmistress at a Christian school in Canton, but kindergarten was a perfect spot for her, and she remained there for nearly 30 years. All that to say, between being with my mom while she served at church and school, and attending church and school activities, I spent as many hours in this building as anywhere else in my early years.

As the song teaches us, the church is not a building; but the material resources that God has given Community Grace have been a great benefit to me and many others. It is within these walls that I first heard many of the Scriptures that are now hidden in my heart. Psalm 100 and Psalm 23 are forever in me because of reciting them at my kindergarten graduation on the stage in the sanctuary. It is within these walls that I first met people who would become lifelong friends and my spiritual community. I have celebrated our marriage, mourned the deaths of our daughter and my father, and committed and recommitted myself to Christ and His teachings too many times to count here. The closest I have ever felt to heaven has happened within the walls of this building.

I could (and maybe should sometime) write pages and pages about the people at Community Grace who have made an impact on my life, and while God certainly is not bound by any material limitations, I do want to be a good steward of the resources He has given us with this property and these buildings. I want others now and until Jesus returns to have a space to hear God’s Word, to grow in their faith, and to have the privilege of serving God and this community alongside other believers. I want us to embrace and embody what Jesus prayed for in John 17 when He asked the Father “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” I pray others will join and I “wait in expectation” (Psalm 5) to see what God will do!"

- Stephanie Rager

Read more Impact Testimonies Here

Faith Promise Sunday was February 4, 2024, and we celebrate that 73% of our $200,000 was given or turned in by faith promise commitment by that day. But there is still farther to go. Community Grace's elders have asked everyone to participate in the Building Impact Initiative to some extent by making "Faith promises" for 2024, so that it is a truly all-church endeavor that we all share. These faith promises will be anonymous and just between you and God, but a tremendous help for us to track the amounts promised toward the initiative. Weekly and monthly gifts add up significantly over time. Putting aside just $50 per month adds up to $600 toward the initiative! 

Please prayerfully read through the Faith Promise Card and consider how the Lord may be leading you to participate in Building Impact in 2024. Then, fill out a hard copy and place in an offering box or deliver to the church office, or send an electronic copy to office@communitygrace.org. 

You can download a .pdf version of the Faith Promise Card or pick one up at the Connection Center. Thank you, Church Family. We are on this mission together!