A Short History
In the 1930's a Sunday school was started in the old Lane School house, around the corner from the present location of Grace Community Church, at the corner of E. 55th and Skiles. At that time, the area was completely rural and there were no churches nearby. The old brick school house still stands, but has been converted to a private residence.
Those who could have given details of that time are all gone. It is unclear whether or not the Sunday school was conducted continuously from the 1930's, or if there was a space of time when it was stopped. There are indications, though, from remarks made in years past, that the early Sunday school work was discontinued after a time. In the early 1940's, Louise Foster, who had grown up in the area, became involved in the Sunday School work, seemingly starting over from scratch. For many years she drove all over the surrounding neighborhood, picking up children in her station wagon, and bringing them to Sunday school.
Over time, the Sunday school grew in numbers, and parents began to come along with their children. A midweek Bible study was started. Louise asked a young man, W. J. Franklin, to teach those studies. He was teaching in a small, local, Bible school at that time.
Eventually, the people who were attending Sunday school and the Bible studies expressed a desire to purchase property and build a church building. This was done, and in 1949 the informal congregation legally incorporated the work as Grace Community Church. It was a community church in the fullest sense; it was the only church serving this community.
Louise did not feel inclined or qualified to be a pastor. She pressed W. J. Franklin to become the pastor of Grace Community Church, but by that time he had taken the pastorate of a church in Kansas City, Kansas, and did not feel he should leave that congregation. He was very active and helpful in the purchase of the property and the construction of the building, but continued to leave the primary care of the work with Louise Foster.
Louise attempted to find someone else to take charge of the church, but those whose spiritual character and knowledge qualified them for the task would not come. Her situation was a little like that of Paul, when he wrote to the church at Corinth, "As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time" (I Cor. 16:12). A few men with more desire than spiritual calling or ability volunteered themselves to be the pastor. Louise wisely declined their offers.
Over time, it became apparent that the work that had begun under her hand would remain under her hand. Like some of the women in scripture who are given the title of "prophetess," it was clear that God had called her to His work. She was certainly not a prophetess, but she was a sound Bible teacher, a woman of humility, and someone who was utterly faithful in her calling and in her personal character. Louise never married. The congregation became more a family to her than her natural family - although she certainly continued to love and have contact with her relatives.
Louise went to be with the Lord in December 1974, after more than 30 years of faithful ministering. She left behind a core group of godly people who had a hunger for and a good knowledge of the Bible, the word of God.
After her death, Carson Richards, who pastored a church in Kansas City, Kansas, offered to help out by teaching the midweek Bible study. The church board eventually asked him if he would be willing to become the pastor of Grace Community Church, but he declined. He suggested that they instead ask David Franklin, his son in law and the son of W. J. Franklin, to take the pastorate of the church.
In the fall of 1975, David Franklin became the pastor. Until after he took that place, he did not know of his father's earlier involvement with Grace Community Church. The Franklin family had moved from the Kansas City area in 1950, when David was only two, and had lived in a number of different places in connection with his father's ministry. It was only in going over some of the old paperwork concerning the church that he discovered this connection.
David Franklin has been the pastor of Grace Community Church since 1975. Other church pastorates have been offered to him over the years, but he never felt led to go elsewhere. His ministry here is primarily one of straightforward Bible teaching.
The church continues to meet in the building built under Louise Foster's ministry. The congregation has for some time considered the option of relocating to a different facility, but until the present, the Lord has not opened that door, and so for the foreseeable future we will continue in our well-maintained building on Rinker Road.