Grace Angelical Lutheran Church

Located in the heart of historic downtown Winchester, Virginia, Grace proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ and serves the needs of people of the City of Winchester, Frederick County and the surrounding area.

Specifics
Sunday Worship Service at 8:15 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. Grace Place Saturday Service at 6:00 p.m.

Come and experience the love of God in Jesus Christ in a community where

* the gospel is proclaimed, * the sacraments celebrated, * relationships valued, * and everyone's gifts are acknowledged as valuable to the services of God's Kingdom.

History
The History of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wod Winchester, Virginia

Under the constant blessings of Almighty God, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church has proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in many and various ways for more than 250 years.

After receiving a grant from Lord Fairfax, dated May 15, 1753, the German Lutherans first built a log schoolhouse to educate their children. It was not until April 16, 1764, that the cornerstone for the first church building was laid. The Church was destroyed by fire in 1854 when sparks from a nearby stable set fire to the roof of the church. The remains of the stone walls are standing today in the cemetary. Just beyond the wall is buried the first resient pastor, the Rev. Christian Streit, who arrived in 1785 after serving as Chaplain to the Eigth Virginia Regiment of Regulars during the Revolutionary War and pastor of other Lutheran Congregations in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

The present location of the church was secured in 1840 and a new church was built in 1842. Originally built to serve as a lecture hall, the two-story brick building was the largest meeting place for miles around. During the Civil War it was used by both Southern and Northern forces.

After the war, the congregation decided to add a steeple to the brick lecture hall and make it their primary church sanctuary. In 1877, the congregation took the name of Grace. The current education and administrative offices building next to the sanctuary was built in 1924.

In 1992, the congregation purchased the building at 16 N. Braddock Street--the old bus station that later became Noble's Travel World--and renovated that building to become its new Children's Education Center. The sanctuary was redesigned and remodeled in 1994 with a new addition in order to provide more space and house a new pipe organ. The G&M Music Center building, located next door, was purchased and made into the congregation's Grace Ministries Outreach Center (GMOC) in 2004

This congregation's story is one of a Christian community gathered around an evangelical faith transplanted from the Rhineland hills of Germany to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Its story is one of men and women, all baptized and some ordained, struggling to be faithful to God's Word whether facing wilderness harshness or modern secularism.

Its story is one of times filled with frontier dangers, consuming wars, bold leadership, failed plans, destructive fires, divided views, new challenges and unrealized fears. Its story is one of success and failure, missionary zeal and larger church perspective. Its story is one of being the first Lutheran congregation in the United Lutheran Church to support on its own a missionary to Japan. Its story is one of growth and loss, joy and mourning, building and rebuilding, stability and change. Its story continues in faith and service to the Gospel of Jesus Christ