By Kyle Tubbs

I saw a church marquee that had a chuckle-worthy tagline. It said: St. So-and-so Church: “We love hurting people.”

I think what the church means by this tagline is that they are a church that loves people who are hurting.

The anguished English on the sign makes me giggle, but when I get past the hahas and lols, the church seems very welcoming.

The reality is that all people hurt in some way. We all struggle.  We all have pain. We all suffer.

At our church plant in Round Rock, Texas, we hope to bring our struggles, pains and sufferings together. We hope that we can be a place where people in the community feel welcome to bring their joys, sorrows, highs and lows to our church body.

Grace Baptist Church’s vision is “To impact our world, in Williamson County and beyond, by joining God in God’s extraordinary work of reconciliation and redemption of all creation.”

As we aim to join God in reconciliation, we suffer, reflect and express hurts together as a church. We aim to be a welcoming church that expresses our love both in our services and out in the community.

We hope we can be a church that “loves hurting people.”

The following post is by Kyle Tubbs, a CBF church starter and pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Williamson County, Texas. Read more about Kyle and Grace Baptist in a recent fellowship! magazine feature titled “CBF church starters use creativity to build community.“ Kyle is writing as part of a monthly blog about church starting. Read his other blogs here: October, November, December, January, February, March.