Alton Grace United Methodist Church Relocates Services to Asbury Village
The church is embracing a new community — and a new, unified message — in Godfrey.
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GODFREY - Alton Grace United Methodist Church has sold its building and begun offering services at Asbury Village in Godfrey.
At 10 a.m. every Sunday, community members are invited to Asbury Village’s chapel for worship. Pastor Alan Abert noted that the services are open to the public. He is excited about this next chapter for the church.
“About 18 months ago, we began envisioning what our ministry was going to look like going forward. The second question was, can we do that ministry without the weight of a building?” Pastor Abert shared. “This has been a God moment from beginning to end.”
The congregation realized their building wasn’t suited to the growth they wanted. In July 2025, they decided to sell their building, located at 702 Henry Street in Alton, to a church group based out of North County called El Bethel Church of God in Christ. El Bethel COGIC will begin services in the Henry Street building soon.
In the meantime, Alton Grace has begun offering services at Asbury Village in Godfrey, where they went from just a few congregants to over 40. Pastor Abert said it’s been “all good,” and the church is “blessed” to take this next step.
“What we’re doing in Asbury is not only are we going out into the community, but we’re actually building a new community,” he explained.
He emphasized that they don’t want to “overwhelm” the Asbury Village community or residents who attend the services, but the services are open to members of the public, too. They can seat up to 75 people in the chapel.
If you’d like to attend a Methodist service but don’t feel like the Asbury Village services are for you, Pastor Abert noted that there are two other churches in their network.
Pastor Abert leads a congregation at Historic Elsah United Methodist Church at 8:30 a.m. every Sunday, then travels to Asbury Village for the service there at 10 a.m. He concludes his Sunday mornings at Hartford United Methodist Church at 11:15 a.m. He encourages people to come out to one of the services.
He also noted that the church works hard to engage with the community. They have a close partnership with Crisis Food Center and regularly host drives for the pantry.
Throughout the Riverbend region, the church is starting a billboard campaign to promote the message “Hate Divides, Love Unites.” Pastor Abert believes it’s the church’s duty to promote unity.
“For me, right now in my life, in my ministry and the world around us, it’s time to say enough. Enough of the discourse. Let’s try to figure out how we can try to find common ground. That’s what this is really all about,” he explained. “We’re called to love as Christ has loved us. If that’s the call, if that’s the ministry, then the rest of it should be really easy.”
For more information about Alton Grace United Methodist Church, visit their official Facebook page. To learn more about the local United Methodist Church community, check out their official website at ElsahUMC.org.
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