Saturday January 14, 2023 we held the closing liturgy for ministry of Word and Sacrament at King of Glory Lutheran Church FW. This community, organized in 1966 as East Fort Worth was a fast growing suburb, served its community well even as demographics changed, the facility aged, and the congregation membership declined. The congregation held Vacation Bible School, welcomed addiction and recovery groups, and treated its neighbors as sisters and brothers.
Most recently King of Glory welcomed the Umoja-Fort Worth, NT-NL Synod, ELCA Swahili speaking ministry as a partner in ministry. In so doing Pastor Nicholaus Chove came to serve King of Glory as well. This gave Pastor Chove three different ministries he was serving as he also was ordained to serve Community of Hope Lutheran Church in East Fort Worth.
The faithful decision of the KoG-Fort Worth community to end Word and Sacrament ministry will mean they again can be a blessing. As their members join other congregations, including Community of Hope, they will bring their spirit of service. Negotiations for selling the property continue as a Liberian immigrant church is looking to purchase it. With the proceeds of the sale KoG will be able to support ministries dear to them as well as the NT-NL Mission Endowment Fund.
In making this decision the members have chosen to let go of struggling to maintain a building. Recognizing the church is not and has never been a building. Instead they will release needed resources, including themselves, to bless the church. Sustaining and making sustainable our ELCA presence in East Fort Worth.
The church is never one congregation. And no congregation lives in isolation. We are church together for the sake of the proclamation of the gospel. Thanks be to God for the faithful witness of King of Glory-Fort Worth. #NTNL #InMissionTogether