Grace Reformed ARP Church is 10.5 years old. They have been renting worship space for that period of time. Over the past several years, they rented a Seventh-day Adventist building in Clayton, NC. The new building is located in Smithfield, NC (about 30 minutes southeast of Raleigh) and was formerly the meeting space of a United Methodist congregation. The congregation voted to disaffiliate from the UMC, but because the denomination owns the property, the particular church was unable to buy the building back from the denomination. Grace Reformed heard about it before the property even went up for sale and, in God’s kind providence, they purchased the building in July.
They have been making renovations to the sanctuary and to a log cabin building on the property, which have just been completed. There is a fellowship hall connected to the sanctuary that requires much more extensive renovations, and they plan to begin those very soon. Lord willing, they will be completed by summer.
“It’s a wonderful space, and we’re so grateful to have it. Our first service was supposed to happen on February 1, however, a snowstorm dumped several inches, and we had to postpone our service,” Reverend Darin Stone said.