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A Letter From Grace Church of Utah

 

Dear Friend,

These are both exciting and challenging times for Grace Church of Utah!  Would you consider partnering with our church in a mighty endeavor?

According to the American Religion Data Archive (ARDA) Utah ranks 50th in the United States for the number of congregations of mainline denominations and 46th for evangelical congregations.  While 73% of Utah is Latter Day Saints, the Layton/Ogden percentage is even higher.

In stark contrast to that, Utah ranks 1st in the United States for number of congregations that are non-Christian and 1st for congregations of Latter Day Saints.  Specifically, regarding the Presbyterian Church in America (the PCA, of which Grace Church of Utah is a member), Utah ranks 41st in number congregations.  This translates into a state that desperately needs the Gospel!  The opportunities are many and the task daunting.

Grace Church has reached a landmark milestone.  After meeting in a local public high school atrium for a number of years, we firmly believe it is time to take our ministry to the next level by securing our own facilities.  In this unique culture we have discovered that not having your own building is a great stumbling block to advancing a church not only to families moving into Utah, but especially to transitioning and questioning Mormons who have grown up going to a building (ward house) every Sunday their entire lives.  Going to an unconventional building for church just seems too odd for most of them.  We believe we need this "tool" of our own building for a more broad and effective ministry.  A place of our own gives Grace Church: visibility, credibility, and viability.

  1. Visibility: we need a 24/7 community facility presence that puts us on people's radar screen.
  2. Credibility: a building is critical for reaching both LDS people searching for Christ, and, for military (Hill Air Force Base) and non-military people looking for a stable church home that is more than a once-a-week temporary facility.
  3. Viability: a building of our own gives us the opportunity to engage in a myriad of ministries during the week (Bible studies, your ministry, food pantry, day care, help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, etc) as well as Sunday ministries.

In light of this we are aggressively and prayerfully pursuing this goal. We are testing the waters and looking to purchase (long-range) permanent facilities by searching for land, or an already existing building, or possibly a storefront. But we will not achieve our goals without some serious help!  We really need churches and individuals partnering with us!

We would humbly ask you to consider the following:

  1. Pray for Grace Church, and particularly for our building project.
  2. Pray about contributing financially to this strategic building project.
  3. Share with us contacts you may have who would like to know about our efforts.

We believe the time is ripe for Grace Church to move to the next level of ministry in this desert region. The Wasatch Front is expected to grow by another million people over the next 15 years.  By 2040 Salt Lake City is expected to be the size of Philadelphia. Seventy-two percent of those who work in Salt Lake commute there from areas like Layton/Ogden. The time to build for the future is now! We want Grace Church to have a dynamic ministry for many years to come.

It has often been said that living in Utah is like living in a foreign country and mission field. It just happens to be English speaking and in the continental United States! (After living here for three years, I can completely confirm those words.) It is not an easy place to live. But the opportunities are vast. Record numbers of Mormons are leaving the LDS church weary of its performance, works-based religion. The Gospel of grace is getting new audiences and the Spirit of God is moving! Will you consider "partnering" with us in this effort, that humanly speaking, is impossible? Will you help us do Kingdom building here in the very needy state of Utah?

Grace Church has solid leadership and a great vision. Check us out at www.graceutah.org. We not only want to have a Gospel impact here in Northern Utah, we want to help equip churches in other states to effectively reach out to Mormons. After all, they are in your neighborhood too! The LDS church has grown 220% in the last 30 years with more than 25,000 congregations in 160 countries around the world. It is estimated that if this current growth rate continues, they could have some 265 million members by the year 2080!  Someone needs to lead the way in how to effectively evangelize this unique and hard-to-reach culture. We in Utah live with it every day and want to lead the way! (I am available to speak at mission conferences).

 Here are some very interesting statistics published recently by The Barna Group. Of the 86 largest metropolitan areas in the nation, those with the lowest proportion of evangelicals were in SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (just 25 miles south of us, and many commute to Salt Lake to work from Layton/Ogden), Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island. The people MOST LIKELY to believe that they can EARN THEIR SALVATION live in SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.  Here are some of Barna's conclusions: "Churches that wish to pray for or partner with other congregations might wish to target churches in areas that are spiritually struggling" (that's us!) "Denominations seeking to plant churches to reach non-Christians could select areas more exactly by using such information" (Utah is one of the most non-Christian places in the U.S.)

We are resolute and determined to see the Gospel run like wild fire here on the Wasatch Front! But we need partners like you.

We welcome any questions, suggestions, thoughts and ideas you may have. Email Don at pastor@graceutah.org.  Financial contributions can be sent to Grace Church of Utah, PO Box 1063, Layton, Utah, 84041, Attn: Tim Anglin.

For the Glory of God,

Don Krafft, Pastor

Steve Kelley, Elder

Rick Proffer, Elder