The WELS Mission in Mobile first kicked off as Living Word Lutheran Church in 1971 at the request of several households which had withdrawn from some other “too liberal” Lutheran churches.  Though the congregation eventually became self-supporting, we never experienced the growth we hoped for.  In 2000, with the support of the Board for Home Missions we jump-started ourselves, changed our name to Saving Grace, sold the old property and bought elsewhere, and generally started anew.

So began our “wandering in the wilderness.”  We had problems with architects and engineers, problems with the permitting and licensing processes, problems with multiple contractors, and of course, ever-increasing construction costs.  It seemed that for several years, everything that could go wrong, did.  Also, while the Masonic Lodge that leased us our temporary worship space was an excellent landlord, that building and its stigma didn’t rate very high as an evangelism tool.

Our feeling of relief was immense when we finally saw a slab poured and framing going up…our first real church building in the congregation’s 30+ year history was taking shape!  The building was far enough along to make it easy for even the most skeptical of us to imagine its eventual beauty one day before Hurricane Katrina.  The day after the storm, the lumber that had formed the skeleton of our long-awaited church, was scattered like matchsticks across our 8 acres.  Apparently we still needed to learn a little more about persistence.

With God’s blessing our building was finished over the following year.  In a way we felt as if the Lord had led us to a promised land of sorts.  Our new building even had windows in which natural light shone in!  The smell of new paint was a welcome alternative to the Fish fry smell that permeated our rental facility.  It was clear that God had blessed us greatly with our new church.

God is continuing to bless Saving Grace and persistence is still a lesson we are being taught.  Our new member classes are typically between 2 and 10 people but they are continually being taught.  We have grown over the last three years to over 100 members.  Our worship services that once averaged in the 30s is now averaging in the mid 70s.  Our children’s programs have expanded to include a pioneer program, youth group, and a healthy Sunday school program.  The growth here would not be described by most as explosive but it is persistent.

By God’s grace we will continue to be persistent as we feed and nurture the faith of our members and seek out the lost with the message of salvation by grace alone. God will work when and where he pleases.  He is the one who calls, gathers, and enlightens.  He has taught us our job is to be persistent.

Pastor Harmon Lewis
Saving Grace  Lutheran Church
Mobile, AL