After years of prayer, Grace Church was birthed out of a series of Sunday evening Bible studies from September to November 2006 that outlined the gospel foundation and biblical structure of a healthy church.
Before Grace
Three years before Grace started, our founding pastors began meeting together for prayer concerning church planting. Throughout that time, they continued to sense the Lord's confirmation to move forward, but were burdened to pray especially for the Lord to provide a sending church. And God provided.
Sending Churches & Denominational Affiliation
In His kindness, the Lord raised up two sending churches. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, and First Baptist Church, West Memphis, AR; our local partnering church in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Grace Church is also part of the Treasuring Christ Together Church Network.
2006 -- Present
Since 2006, the church has been aggressively reaching out to Memphis with the love of Christ, having had the joy of sharing the gospel with hundreds of people in the city since our inception. God's expansion of gospel work through this little church to the ends of the earth can be summarized as follows.
September 2006
Eight Sunday evening Bible studies outlining the foundation, direction, and structure of a biblically healthy church.
February 2007
The first members of Grace Church were welcomed into the covenant family. February 18, 2007 is our birthday.
March 2007
Our first international effort sent a vision team to Northern Nigeria to explore the potential for long-term partnership for church advancement among the unreached. Since then, Grace has returned five more times, and has had the joy of partnering with two new church starts in North Central Nigeria.
April 2007
Two of Grace's pastors were able to assist with the equipping of Ethiopian pastors in partnership with Psalms Two Twelve ministries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Fall 2009
Grace sent our first team to India to work in partnership with Reach All Nations ministries. We have returned once since then, and have had the joy of hosting the leaders of this ministry in Memphis on various occasions. One of our pastors, and his family, spent Fall '12 working with this ministry in India.
Beginning December 2009
Grace sent her first family as international missionaries, who are serving in Eastern Europe. Since then, four separate Grace related teams have been to serve alongside, and encourage our loved ones. This missionary family was commissioned by Grace Church to career missions in Eastern Europe on July 1, 2012.
2009-2014
Lives changed in Memphis by the power of the gospel, and lives changed internationally through the propagation of the gospel would be a summary of the five years between '09-'14. Dozens of international mission trips, and emerging partnership with HeartCry Missionary Society, and a host of ministry expressions in inner-city Memphis have filled these years. Pray with us for lasting fruit in our lives, and in the lives of those to whom we've had the joy of commending Christ.
Spring 2011
One of Grace's families spent time in Ecuador forging a long-term partnership for the advancement of pastoral theological training to strengthen the church, and establish new churches. A second team from Grace ministered there in January 2012, and a third team in March. A fourth team served there again in September '12, and several more have returned since.
January 2015
In January 2015, Grace Church made her first physical move. Since her inception, Grace met at the Bridges building. In January 2015, Grace moved not only locations, but also meeting times. We gathered at Union Avenue Baptist Church's facility on Sunday afternoons (1:30-4pm).
January 2016
In January 2016, the Lord opened the door for our return to Uptown by allowing us to meet at Greenlaw Community Center. We are grateful to God to gather at the community center in our neighborhood & grateful for the ministry partnership with Memphis Athletic Ministries (MAM) that operates ministry in the center throughout the week. We invite you to join us at 10a for prayer & preaching at Greenlaw Community Center, 190 Mill Ave, Memphis, 38105.
January 2017-2019
The Lord added a couple new elders, and sent three households to North Carolina for seminary training and teaching. By God’s grace we have seen people converted and many new people added to our church family. We are currently praying and preparing toward the purchase of a permanent church property.
Church Family
The Lord has richly blessed us as a covenant family of faith in Christ. Our heart's desire is to glorify God by treasuring Jesus Christ and spreading His eternal joy. If you are interested in learning more about church membership, click here.