‘A church for all people’ set for first service in Keller

A new church is setting up in Keller with a unique approach.

The Well Church Keller will have its first service Sept. 13 at the Moviehouse & Eatery, 250 Rufe Snow Drive, and aims to be “a church for all people” and a “place of common ground,” said its lead pastor, Trey Grant.

It will be a multiethnic church, one of the few in the area.

“A diverse congregation gives us a glimpse of heaven,” Grant said. “The Bible tells us that heaven is a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language.”

Grant views a multiethnic church as one with no more than 80 percent of one ethnicity in the congregation and church staff and leaders, though other churches may have different definitions. He said the Well aims to be diverse “in every level of leadership.”

Grant said he and others at Irving Bible Church began searching for a good location for the Well Church about two years ago. They chose Keller because of the area’s recent and projected growth, as well as its increasing diversity.

According to census data, Keller has become more diverse, with the percentage of whites dropping from 93.7 percent in 2000 to 89.6 percent in 2010. And now, five years later and with an estimated 4,000 more people living just in the Keller city limits, Grant said the diversity trend is continuing.

And areas of north Fort Worth, from U.S. 377 west to Interstate 35W, have added to the cultural mix. That area is served by the Keller school district, and its ethnic breakdown in 2013-14 was 59 percent Anglo, 21 percent Hispanic, 8 percent African-American and 7.7 percent Asian, according to the Texas Education Agency.

“We think Keller is the perfect location,” Grant said. “A diverse congregation mirrors its community. If you were to stand outside of a local grocery store in Keller or sit on the patio of a restaurant at Alliance Town Center, you will see that the Keller area is diverse and is becoming more diverse.”

Church leaders and members will continue to volunteer in the community each month because serving others, especially those in “underserved” communities, is a big part of the church’s mission, Grant said.

The church will meet at the Moviehouse & Eatery for at least three years, and the services will be held in a theater that seats about 180 people. If attendance surpasses that, the service will be live-streamed on other screens in the theater complex, which can hold about 700 people total.

The first service will be from 9 to 10:15 a.m. Sept. 13. Details at thewellchurchkeller.org.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "‘A church for all people’ set for first service in Keller."