Grace under fire

This is a story about faith. About faith in God, and also faith in community. And about how and where the two meet.

Grace Church, the Baptist congregation in Boulder, is trying to keep itself above the waterline. In the last few years, its membership has dropped from 50 to around 10 — a staggering number, even at a time when participation in formal religion is declining nearly everywhere. Its pastor, Matthew Wilson, and his congregants are wrestling with what that means, and with how they might better engage a community that itself is in flux.

I first learned of this effort when I received a survey from Grace in January. The church was trying to understand how it was perceived in Boulder.