GCC History
In May of 1992, a handful of families met together to worship and to prayerfully consider which Lima area church they should join. Within two years, God in His wise providence had merged them together with a Grace Brethren Church located on University Boulevard. This new church family soon affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America, through which they were introduced to John Heyward, who since June of 1994, has served as Senior Pastor.
As the church family grew, the building on University Boulevard was no longer big enough and with expansion of that facility cost prohibitive, a search began to find a suitable replacement facility. After exploring multiple options, it became clear that God was moving the church to build a new facility. In what can only be described as God’s goodness to His people, Grace Community Church became the owner of 9 acres of real estate where Baty Road tees into Allentown Road. The property was obtained for half the market value. Seeing God’s gracious provision of the land, the church excitedly moved ahead with its building effort. The building committee began meeting regularly. After much input was received from both the committee and the congregation and after many drafts, a building plan took shape.
Buildings take resources – people resources to plan… and financial resources to procure labor and materials. And so, in October 2003, the church kicked-off a very successful capital campaign. Coinciding with the capital campaign, the building on University Boulevard that Grace called home for 10 years was sold and our church family began meeting at the Elida Middle School for the next 20 months. The church enjoyed unity and growth during the building process and by August of 2005 was able to settle into its current 20,000 square foot building.
Numerical growth was slow yet steady through the first 3+ years in the new building as Grace Community Church continued its core mission of preaching and teaching the Bible as God’s inerrant word, profitable to the Believer in and for every aspect of life. From that steady growth fell the seed of Church Planting. After congregational approval to pursue church planting, a committee was formed in early 2009 and tasked with the effort of finding the man who would ultimately lead the Church Plant. After many months of waiting for the calling of the right man; 18 of them to be exact… Rick Schwartz a native of Berne, Indiana, was called to the position in July 2010. One more display of patience was needed however… Rick still had another year at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he would complete his coursework to achieve his Master of Divinity degree. Rick would join the pastoral staff at Grace in June 2011 and with the aid of two current-serving elders – Tim Mosher and Brett Anderson – would lead 50+ people to form CrossPoint Community Church. They began holding services in February 2012 and celebrated their 5-year anniversary in 2017… that celebration coincided w/ CrossPoint taking possession of their very own building on Ashton Avenue.
Other ways Grace Community Church has sought to represent Christ to our city:
- In the fall of 2010, we began participating in a Bible Study on the UNOH campus. It was tough going for a couple of years as at most 2 students would show up on any given night. After a season of prayer-only… no Bible Studies for 9 months… we renewed our efforts to pursue a campus Bible Study in October 2012 with the additional desire (or perhaps incentive to attend) to serve any student attending a hot meal. Presently, the Bible Study consistently draws 15+ students per Monday night. And on a yearly basis, over 20+ ladies chip in to help provide the meals, which are a great blessing to these young students.
- Kids’ Hope, a child mentoring program, was launched in September 2013. One mentor and one student meet for one hour each week. We now have 25 children who are being mentored on a weekly basis at Unity Elementary School. What began as a desire to help at-risk students has grown into an opportunity to bless the staff and administration of the school located in the south part of Lima.
- Other work has been done in the neighborhood that surrounds Unity Elementary. Three different roof projects, a couple of new fences… and a few yards raked free of leaves are just a few small tasks as Grace Community Church desires to be a blessing to our city.
As a church family, we are grateful and humbled by God’s blessing upon us in the past and we look forward to how He will use us to advance His kingdom in Lima and throughout the world. TO GOD BE THE GLORY IN THE CHURCH!
May 1992 – First meeting in the basement of Tim and Eva Mosher
October 1992 – Began meeting with Grace Brethren Church on University Blvd
May 1993 – Merged with Grace Brethren Church
October 1993 – Joined the Great Lakes District of the EFCA
June 1994 – John Heyward called as first full-time pastor
August 2002 – Joe Lott called as part-time Youth Ministries Director
May 2003 – Purchased 9 acres on Allentown Road
November 2003 – Moved from University Blvd facility; began meeting at Elida Middle School
August 2005 – Began meeting in new facility on Allentown Road
August 2006 – Joe Wassink called as full-time Associate Pastor
March 2007 – Began a six year partnership with Iglesia El Alfarero (The Potter’s Church) in Lima, Peru – sent a team every year through February 2012
November 2008 – Congregation votes to pursue plans to plant a church in Lima
July 2010 – Rick Schwartz is called to serve as Church Planting Pastor even though he one year of seminary left to complete
February 2012 – Commissioning service for the church plant. Approximately 50 people (including elders Brett Anderson and Tim Mosher) leave with Rick Schwartz to begin CrossPoint Community Church on the north side of Lima.
October 2012 – Grace Community Church is part of a Re-Launch of CrossRoads Bible Study, a sponsored campus ministry of UNOH.
September 2013 – Kim Allison hired as the first part-time Women’s Ministry Director. (She served in that role through May 2016)
September 2014 – Kids Hope Mentoring program begins. Over 20 people from GCC begin meeting one hour each week with students from Unity Elementary School on the south side of Lima
September 2016 – Lynne McKenzie hired as the part-time Women’s Ministry Director
May 2017 – Grace Community Celebration Service – 25th anniversary.
January 2019 – The church mortgage was paid off seven years early, saving $150,000 in interest