A longtime church in Tilton has a new name and will soon debut a completely remodeled building to the public.
Grace Community Church is located at 1629 King Street, next to County Market. Until last month, it was known as South Side Church of the Nazarene. Jeremy McLaughlin, who has pastored the congregation for about a year, says its members wanted to transform the building and to rebrand after its attendance had fallen in recent years. Last summer, those wishes came to a reality, with the sanctuary being remodeled into a more upscale, modern worship space.
“We’ve put a lot of money in our kids’ wing and into our sanctuary, where we’ve really focused on contemporary worship,” he says. “We’re really enjoying that, and people have bought into that.”
McLaughlin says the church has actually increased its attendance since COVID-19 hit, due in part to outdoor worship services that it held when most of the other churches in Vermilion County went online-only a year ago. Services have continued to be held weekly even during the renovation process. Visitors will notice a cafe space in the front where the church’s offices used to be, along with dark-colored sanctuary walls and a more vibrant paint scheme around the building.
The church will show off its transformed building to the public on Sunday, April 11th with a grand reopening celebration. McLaughlin says they are hoping many people will come out and see what the “new” church has to offer.
“We’re expecting a big crowd that day,” he says. “We seat about 300, and we’re just praying that the room is filled up that day. It will be an exciting day for us.”
Grace Community Church offers regular Sunday services at 11 a.m. You can visit their new website online, GraceinDanville.com.
