History

In 2001 Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) of Frederick decided, at Pastor Dave Orvec’s encouragement, to develop a second campus of the church in the rapidly developing area of Urbana in Southern Frederick County, Maryland. The vision was one church with two campuses.

 

Between February and May, 2002 three “test services” were held on Sunday evenings at Urbana High School.  Attendance was solicited through direct mailings and Pastor Dave Orvec presided.

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In September 2002, one month after the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) Delaware-Maryland Synod agreed to provide “startup” funding, Pastor Albert K. Lane, III (“Bert”) was hired on a six month contract to help ELC decide whether to proceed with the Urbana Project, or not.

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The first Sunday Service of the Urbana Campus of ELC was held on Reformation Sunday, October 27, 2002 in the St. Ignatius “country church” on Route 80.  The birth of the South Campus was presided over by Pastors Lane and Orvec.

 

Beginning in December 2002 a second Sunday morning service was added and The Cracked Claw Restaurant donated space to provide Sunday School.  Many Sundays began with Pastor Bert and volunteers cleaning up the restaurant from the night before in order to have an acceptable environment for children!

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This St. Ignatius/Cracked Claw arrangement continued through 2003.  The year saw The Urbana Steering Committee formed to guide the Urbana Campus development.  John Bush was named “convener”.   On April 27, 2003 the baptism of Elizabeth Martin Voss became the first held at the Urbana Campus.  August of the same year saw ELC form The Urbana Land and Building Fund to gather money towards future capital needs.  Finally in October that year, ELC authorized a search for land for the new campus.  John Bush and Melanie Galloway from Urbana were joined by Chairman Dean Newins in being charged with looking for an appropriate location.

 

Both Sunday Service and Sunday School functions then moved to Urbana Elementary School.  The Sunday school moved first in December 2003, while Worship Services moved on January 11, 2004.  About this time Reverend H. Gerald Knoche, Bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA announced that Communion would be held weekly and since Lane was still a Methodist Pastor and could not perform Communion, a second Pastor either from ELC or a retiree, had to also attend each Sunday.  This situation was rectified when Lane received his new contract, this time for a year, in which it was agreed he would become a Lutheran Pastor….which happened in Spring of 2004.  The Urbana Campus held its first Confirmation on June 13, 2004.

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The search for land continued and in July 2004 a Letter of Intent to Purchase was signed between ELC and Mr. and Mrs. D. Wayne Rhodes for their 43 acre farm on Md. Route 80.  This initiated an intensive study that resulted in the October 17th ELC Fall Congregational Meeting approving the purchase for $1.4 million.  A contract was formally signed by the October 27, 2004 deadline and the property quickly became referred to as the “The Promised Land”.

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For the first years, the program survived on grants and support from its “mother campus”, ELC in Frederick, and from the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA.  Pastors Barbara Bornemann and Stacey Brady, in addition to Pastor Dave Orvec, from ELC rotated serving alongside Pastor Bert.  Also called to duty from time to time were retired Pastors Roland C. Hobbs, Dan Orvec, Charles Frederick and Pastor Emeritus W. Phillip Fogarty.

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The period of 2005 to 2010 was a time when many changes within the pastoral leadership at ELC occurred and which ultimately affected the course and makeup of the newly created church in Urbana.  Pastor David Albertson’s first introduction to the Urbana Campus was as a Seminarian assigned to ELC from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the spring of 2007.  Upon graduating in May 2007, he joined ELC as a Pastoral Assistant, became ordained in November of that year and Mission Pastor for ELC Urbana on January 27, 2008.  The Elevation to Mission Pastor within ELC was held at St. Ignatius’ new complex which is very close to “The Promised Land” future site for the Urbana Campus of ELC.  March 2008 brought the first Children’s Choir performance. 

 

The strongest ELC supporter of the Urbana Campus left when Pastor Dave Orvec moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda in January 2009.  Orvec is replaced by an Interim Pastor, Gary Bilbie, who continued for more than a year while a search for a full time replacement was conducted.  Accordingly, support within ELC began to wane and Pastor Bert resigned his position in September of the same year.

 

This period was also characterized by moderate growth, Kristofer Roberson joined the staff as Music Director in 2006 and the first marriage was performed between Eva Roessler and Bud Hamman in the same year.  The growth was slower than hoped and brought with it the lingering question about the viability of “The Promised Land” purchase and its development. In essence, the ever present question confronting ELC was:  To what extent and how long could sustained support for the Urbana Campus stay in place until it got on its own financial footing regardless of the nature of its relationship to ELC?  

 

Eventually this led to a series of discussions on whether to remain the course, i.e. to “clone” the Southern Urbana Campus or to give “birth” to an entirely new entity which would be fully independent of ELC.  After many meetings and much introspection the latter was agreed upon and Living Grace Lutheran Church was formally given birth first by the ELC Council on July 13, 2010 and then by the entire ELC Congregation on October 17, 2010.  Both Synod and ELC committed to continued support for a three year period by which time it was anticipated that LGC would be financially on its own.  This meant that “The Land of Promise” would be sold.

 

Although still tethered to both ELC and to the Synod, the new entity began to emerge.  On October 31, 2010, Reformation Sunday, Living Grace Lutheran Church moved into Urbana High School, the site of the original test services nine years earlier.  Staff was increased by adding Eva Roessler as Treasurer and Lynn Staininger as Music Director.  

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Albertson was called by the Synod to be the Mission Pastor for Living Grace Lutheran Church, and a Leadership Group was assembled in December to guide LGC through mission into full status as an independent church within the Synod.  Members were Miriam Darnell, Chair; Chad Baker, Secretary; Melanie Galloway; Peter Cromwell; Roger Randall; and Sean Wilson. 

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A website was developed and Articles of Incorporation were written with non-profit status then obtained.    On April 21, 2011 the first Living Grace Newsletter, The Feed Volume 1, Issue 1 was published.  A new Director 4Youth, JoAnn Pleasants, was hired in August 2011 as an after-school program emerges at Urbana Middle School.  A Constitution was drawn up in anticipation of becoming a new, fully independent church within the Delaware-Maryland Synod once membership was identified. 

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The final steps to full standing occurred in 2013.   On Charter Sunday, February 10, 2013, before the Synod Bishop Herz-Lane, Living Grace Lutheran Church unanimously selects Pastor David Albertson to lead the church and formally requests recognition by the Synod. The final stamp of membership occurred at the annual Synod meeting that following summer.

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Pastor Albertson was called elsewhere in February 2016. After several months of temporary pastors, The reverend Tim Jahn joined Living Grace as interim in April 2016. In June 2017 Pastor Michael McQuade received the call to become pastor.

 

Living Grace continued to meet at Urbana High School until the COVID pandemic. During COVID, worship was moved on-line. During this time McQuade was involved with planning the new Urbana YMCA.

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Following the COVID pandemic, Living Grace began in person worship at the brand new Natelli Family YMCA in Urbana.

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Pastor McQuade was called to a different church in 2022 and the Reverend Douglas Jones became interim pastor. Pastor Jones, a former pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, was appointed to serve as interim pastor for a short period. This turned out to be two years as he agreed to be the supervising pastor of Vicar Kristofer Roberson.

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During this time, the Delaware-Maryland Lutheran Synod and the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland developed a program for a dual affiliation and cooperation between churches. This agreement resulted in Living Grace becoming a Lutheran - Episcopal Church (often called Lutherpalian). This agreement allows Living Grace to serve both Lutherans and Episcopalians in the Urbana area and provides access to resources of both denominations. 

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Vicar Roberson graduated from United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, PA and was ordained in March of 2024. The reverend Kristofer Roberson is the current pastor of Living Grace.

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