A BRIEF HISTORY OF GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH

Just 74 years ago, the fellowship that is now known as Grace Community Church, located in Palmetto Village, New Providence, had its start. This beginning was a very humble and modest occasion as a handful of zealous persons met weekly in a church-planting mission on East Shirley Street, just east of Kemp Road. Eventually a building (just 20ft by 30ft) was erected sometime during the mid-1940s to house this small band of local missionaries.

A NEW NAME FOR A GROWING CHURCH

During the mid-40s and into the 50s, the tiny fellowship came alive with exciting children's meetings and weekly youth programmes. In those early days, the church was simply known as East Shirley Street Gospel Hall, but in 1951 George Lunn, Errol Rolle, Baltron Bethel and Earl Sandilands met to determine a new name for this thriving group. They came up with the name Grace Gospel Chapel, which was accepted by all.

Fresh impetus was given to the development of Grace, when Rex Major, a recent convert, joined the group. Through his testimony and the dedicated assistance of George Lunn (deceased), several persons were converted and came into the fellowship. These new converts were gifted and skilled men and women whom God would use to take the fellowship to another level. These included Herbert (now deceased) and Marjorie Treco, and Doddridge Hunt. Other persons such as Charles Wallace, Lester and Joyce Maycock (both deceased), and Marguerite Theophilus, sister of Charles Wallace, joined the church.

About 13 years after the Assembly was set up, on May 19, 1968, Elders and Deacons were officially ordained. Evangelist Ed Allen carried out the special service. Elders installed were: Charles Wallace, Errol Rolle, George Lunn, Herbert Treco and Leslie Peters. Deacons were: Lester Maycock, Nigel Wells, Thomas Mingo and Joseph d’Arceuil. This was a great blessing to the church. Their combined leadership provided strength and guidance for some years, especially during the transition from a one-room hall to a multi-purpose facility complex.

MILESTONES ALONG THE WAY

The life and ministry of Grace can probably be seen in milestones along the way. The next great milestone was a leap of faith, by a congregation of approximately 45 persons, who undertook a building project in the new development of Palmetto Village, Nassau. The move to Palmetto Village took place on October 20, 1969. The group moved into the educational wing of the church (first phase) completely without debt.

The next great milestone came in the calling of a full-time pastor – F. Edward Allen. Prior to this, much preparation was made by the church under the leadership of Evangelist/Teacher Rex Major. This groundwork was necessary, since over the long history of Brethren in The Bahamas, this would be the first installation of a full-time paid pastor. Ed Allen was accepted as the best candidate and was installed in 1972. Under Pastor Ed's leadership the church continued to grow by leaps and bounds. His tenure with the church ended in 1977.

A milestone in worship experience at Grace came into place with the introduction of drums and eventually a brass section to aid in congregational and special music. Contemporary music forms joined hands with traditional music, producing a very pleasing blend. Most of this was facilitated because Leroy (Tinkle) Hanna and Michael (Sarge) Hanna were won to Christ, discipled and joined the church during the early 1980s.

A definite attempt was made to give strong support to promising young men who sensed a call to ministry. By their commitment, prayer, words of encouragement and endorsement, as well as financial aid, the church stood behind Rex and Doreen Major, Leroy and Lillith Knowles (both deceased), Marcel and Leila Lightbourne, Gil and Joey Maycock, Lyall and Janell Bethel, Phillip and Schell Stubbs, Vaughn and Norma Treco, and Leroy (Tinkle) and Melody Hanna as they sought to develop their ministerial skills and use them for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Additionally, the church supported others for short-term foreign missions Ms. Nina Wood (Charles) to the country of Senegal, and Miss Maria O'Brien to St. Vincent under the auspices of Ministries in Action. Evangelist Rex Major was installed as the second Senior Pastor of Grace in 1996 and served until his retirement in 2001. During his tenure he added structure and transparency to the church and developed “the elder with a portfolio” – i.e. Elder of Administration, Fellowship, Outreach, Christian Education and Worship - as an operating principle. He also instituted on-going training for leaders as a continuous requirement to keep the men fresh and current in their spiritual development.

In 1995 the church changed its name to Grace Community Church to reflect its mission to the community around it, a Church that was opened throughout the week ministering to the community and offering its facilities to all.

Upon the retirement of Pastor Rex, Lyall Bethel was accepted as interim Senior Pastor and later installed as Senior Pastor, an office which he still holds to date. With a background in Public Relations Pastor Bethel and his team created the motto, ‘Growing a healthy church to impact our world’, to reflect the church’s continuing mission to strive to accomplish that goal for the glory of God. They also gave the Church its now distinctive logo.

MISSIONS TO THE CARIBBEAN & THE WORLD

Grace has facilitated its members going on Short Term Mission Trips to many islands of the Caribbean and Mexico and as far afield as Kenya, Nigeria, Spain, France, Malta, Greece and Turkey for more than 30 years. The 40 plus teams have helped to build homes, churches, medical facilities, dormitories, a bakery, and schools as well as conducted Vacation Bible School, medical clinics, and evangelistic / revival services. Many of our youth have also attended Discipleship Training School, School Of Evangelism as well as Youth With a Mission (YWAM) training in Tyler, Texas and done short-term mission ministry trips to Mexico, Thailand, Australia and Brazil as well as major cities in the US, like Houston and Chicago.

HEAVY EMPHASIS ON YOUTH & THE DEAF

Since moving to the Palmetto Village in Marathon, the church has always reached out to the youth of our nation. In September 1981, the Awana program was started and is still an exciting youth program for children between 3-12 years. The average attendance weekly is 250. It is a program of instruction, training and inspiration.

The Grace Sonshine Academy Preschool was started in September 1982, impacting thousands of boys and girls with the gospel of Christ in a learning nurturing environment. This program was discontinued in 2002 after 20 years, with a new emphasis now on reaching high schools in the area. Our Church has adopted 7 high schools in close proximity, and not only are we available for counselling services to these schools but our facilities have been made available for spiritual emphasis activities. We have also had some students supervised for community service to complete requirements for graduation.

The Word of Life Club is also an exciting youth program for young people between 13 and 18 years old (Grades 7–12), which meets on Tuesdays. The basketball court has also been made available to the community as one of the only courts in the Marathon area for young men and women to enjoy this sport.

In 1977 Grace began its first outreach to the deaf led by Sister Leila Lightbourne. At present, there is an active and vibrant ministry to the deaf community. A sign language class is taught free of charge to anyone interested!

Under the present leadership of Pastor Lyall Bethel, a full modernization of the physical facilities including technological innovations have been added to the church to add administrative support and to enhance the worship experience -- these include overhead projectors, cameras and livestreaming over the Internet. His leadership team for the first 13 years included Pastor Leroy “Tinkle” Hanna, Elders David Hanna, Michael “Sarge” Hanna, Stuart Kelly, Andy Knowles, Cardinal McCardy, Cyril Peet and Gregory Williams, along with Deacon Anthony “Tony” Smith and a host of ministry directors. Together they worked to take on the 21st century with the changeless claims of Jesus Christ.

Several years ago, the pastoral team did leadership training for some of the young up and coming men, six of whom were ordained. On October 25, 2015, the leadership of the church added one Elder, Carlyle Peart, one new evangelist, Ricardo Stubbs, and four new men to the deaconate, Adrian Curry, Andalino Sands, Damian Sands and Gerard Thompson.

In October 2018, two of the elders were installed as full-time Pastors – Elder Stuart Kelly and Elder Carlyle Peart. Michael Clarke was installed as Youth Director. He is a young man who is a product of our care and youth ministries over the years. Michael has since relocated to the USA where he is actively serving in ministry.

The addition to the leadership continues to be an ongoing thing as some men age out. After a period of training, four more men were ordained in October, 2021: Jerry Marc to the office deacon while David Adams, Derwin Johnson and Deacon Damian Sands were added to the eldership.

In celebration of our 80th anniversary another group of men will be ordained to serve. To God be the Glory!