The story of Grace Community Presbyterian Church goes back to the 2001-2003 timeframe, during which families in the Vidalia area that longed to see a Bible-centered, missions-minded Presbyterian church began hosting a weekly Bible study in their homes. While not yet God’s timing for that Bible study to evolve into a full-out effort to plant a church; nevertheless, the seed was planted and people continued to pray. God began answering those prayers by very visibly opening door after door in 2014-2015 for a church plant of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and the Savannah River Presbytery called Vidalia native, Jason Davis, to Vidalia in September of 2015, to begin the work. Immediately interested folks began meeting weekly to pray, and on the evening of September 20th of 2015, Grace Community Presbyterian Church gathered for the very first time to worship God together in the historic First Baptist Church of Vidalia sanctuary. After six weeks of worshiping together in the evening, a morning service was also added.
Meanwhile, the Lyons Presbyterian Church whose worship and work dates back to 1903, pulled out of the PCUSA, and united with Grace Community in the summer of 2016. In a time in which the norm is to hear of churches dividing, the folks from both church bodies give God praise that we can join our hearts and voices in worship and join our resources to serve our Lord’s kingdom. The membership of the Lyons Presbyterian Church graciously offered their facility to Grace Community, and God provided the funds to renovate it, all of which we celebrate today. We are particularly interested in ministering to the neighborhood surrounding this facility, and are in regular prayer that our Lord will open doors for us to take the Gospel in Word and deed to the community around this church building.
We were "organized" as a self-sustaining church in the Presbyterian Church in America on November 5th, 2017, having raised up our own elders to shepherd the souls our Lord has brought us and to lead our church into the Great Commission. We called our second staff member, Mr. Matthew Kersey, to be our minister of music and worship in late 2017, and have since ordained and installed deacons.
Since we began, we have seen God call men into ministry, bring de-churched folks back into fellowship with Himself, change lives through the Gospel, bring people to saving faith, and many other tremendous examples of His grace. Now that God has established us here in Vidalia, we just finished in the fall of 2022 helping plant a sister PCA church in Dublin, about 45 minutes up the road. It is an exciting time at Grace Community Presbyterian Church, and we have seen God bring us so far in seven years! It is exciting to prayerfully dream of what the coming years will hold!
To our members, vistors, and friends of our church alike, thank you for being part of Grace Community's story!