About
Our History.
Learn more about Grace Community Church’s journey in East Texas.
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History of –
Grace.
Grace Community Church was born out of the desire of a few families to passionately learn and apply the Bible to everyday life. A staircase in the home of Bill and Rickey Fisher served as pews for children on Sunday mornings in 1964, the year Evangelical Methodist Church of Tyler (now Grace Community) was formed.
As time passed, Grace moved from a home to the YMCA and eventually to what is now our Old Jacksonville Campus.
In 1973, the church began a christian school which was dedicated to expanding the kingdom of God through educating and equipping children. One year later, the Evangelical Methodist Church officially changed its name to Grace Community of Tyler. And by 1984, the large Auditorium on Old Jacksonville Road was completed.
In 2001, Grace pursued a multi-site model that led to a campus meeting at Grace Community High school on University Blvd.
In 2004, there was a realization that numerous people who lived north of I-20 were attending our Old Jacksonville campus. Since eleven small groups met north of I-20, we began to have discussions, and those groups formed the nucleus of what has now become our Lindale campus. For quite some time, they met in the E.J. Moss auditorium before moving into the current funeral home. We began construction in spring of 2008 on a new campus for Lindale.
Seeing a growing need for a Gospel-centered, Spanish-speaking church, Grace began making preparations in 2013 to launch a 4th campus. In January of 2015, Grace Community launched Grace Español.
Development Highlights
1964
1965
Church growth was on the rise and moved into the YMCA until the construction of the first building on Old Jacksonville was complete
1973
1974
The Evangelical Methodist Church officially changed its name to Grace Community Church of Tyler
1984
The large Auditorium was completed
1993
2001
Grace launched the University Blvd. Campus
2004
Grace launched the Lindale Campus
2008
Lindale Campus construction was completed
2014
New Chapel designed to facilitate life events such as weddings and funerals completed at the Old Jacksonville Campus
2015
Grace Community launches Grace Español in order to meet the growing needs of a Spanish-speaking, Gospel-centered congregation
Watch –
some of our “end of year” videos.
Watch these compilations of stories, and get a glimpse of what God has done through the years.
New to Grace Community?