The journey of ministry can take unexpected paths, yet we're called to trust God's guidance in our areas of service. This is unfolding in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, culminating in the birth of
Redeeming Grace South Bay.
The story began when two pastors, Steve Roma at Resurrection, Santa Clara, and Nick Shults
at St. Mark's, Sunnyvale, forged a friendship. They initiated joint Lenten services in 2020,
pivoting to online platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as restrictions eased, they
continued sharing resources, with both pastors preaching at each location weekly. However,
Pastor Shults eventually relocated to Colorado after Easter 2022.
Facing a pastoral vacancy and declining membership, discussions turned toward merging the
two congregations.
Amidst initial apprehensions, support grew, leading to a vote on Easter Sunday 2023 to form
Redeeming Grace South Bay. Since August, they've operated jointly at the Santa Clara site,
renting out the Sunnyvale location to an Eritrean church on Sundays. Legal formalities for the
new church entity are in progress.
Aaron Putnam of LINC Bay Area played a pivotal role in this process, sharing a valuable
perspective: "This is the honest reality of our situation. So, what will be our hopeful response?”
That hopeful response of Redeeming Grace was to merge in order to plant a new church
together with the goal of reaching the under-reached segments of the population of the South
Bay. Along with supporting a new church plant, the members of Redeeming Grace look to
engage the community as a newly united family of faith.
For more information on Redeemding Grace South Bay, click here
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