The congregation listens to the sermon during the launch service for Gospel Grace Church.
Photo provided
One fire station in a town is good.
But five is even better.
That’s the analogy Hack McPhee uses to describe the reasoning behind planting a church in northwestern Hancock County.
He knows there are already churches there, but he also knows the area is growing.
“You see there there’s new growth and neighborhoods,” he said. “… We know that there’s good churches in and around the region … (but) the needs are great, and we’re not in competition.”
McPhee is part of the three-member elder team, and is frequently the morning speaker, at Gospel Grace Church. It’s a new non-denominational congregation that began meeting in September. Services take place at 10:30 a.m. Sundays at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate/Junior High School. McPhee said the hope is to later locate in the Fortville/Ingalls area.
Another member of the team, Mike Schoenrock, also said there’s a need for more churches as the area grows. If every church was filled up in the area, he said, “There’d still be a lot of people who didn’t have a church to go to.”
About five years ago, McPhee, Shoenrock and fellow elder Mike Foley traveled to Salt Lake City. They went to help a friend who was starting a church there.
They were excited to see the ministry happening there. They wondered if God was calling them, too, to move west and start a church — but “doors weren’t opening as we thought they would be,” Shoenrock said.
Back in Indiana, they crossed paths with someone from Plant Indy, a partnership of congregations that works to start and revitalize churches. Plant Indy representatives talked about community growth patterns in Central Indiana and places that, as a result of that growth, would likely need more churches.
Time passed as that process of discernment, and the COVID-19 quarantine, happened. As people began to meet together more freely, the elders’ focus on starting a new church sharpened. So the trio and about 30 other like-minded people stepped out from the church they were part of in Noblesville.
“It was on good terms,” McPhee said. “They had a sending-out ceremony and prayed for us.”
Now, on Sundays, there’s a group of committed volunteers setting up for a service in the school building, as well as packing all the equipment up afterward.
“We have to mess with all the settings and cords and cables every week,” said Anna Brammer, volunteer coordinator and a musician in the services, but those helping out are dedicated and have gotten the process “down to a science.”
Brammer said working together in starting the church has helped forge connections between people, and that there’s a lot of warmth in the congregation.
“Their love for people and their desire to spread the Gospel would be the things that describe it,” she said.
“… We rub shoulders a lot throughout the week, and it’s very much a family feel — all different ages and walks of life, too, which makes it really neat.”
GOSPEL GRACE CHURCH
Services: 10:30 a.m. Sundays
Location: Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate/Junior High, 12278 N. Cyntheanne Road, Fishers
What to expect: Expository preaching, mix of contemporary and traditional music, nursery for 3-year-olds and younger, Gospel Kids for ages 4-10 during preaching time
Learn more: mygospelgrace.com, 317-721-7084, or find the church on Facebook, Instagram or its podcast on Spotify
