History of Grace

History of Grace Bible

Grace Bible Church began in 2005, when several families began to gather in the home of one of the founders of the church to study the Bible and pray for wisdom from God about whether or not to start a new church in the community. The first members saw the need for an elder-led church in Oxford, committed to expository teaching and small group life, and open to a different approach to worship music.

The church began holding public worship services in the Oxford Conference Center in the fall of 2005, and remained there for over four years. Every Sunday over those four years volunteers in the church packed and unpacked all the equipment used in the worship service and in the children’s ministry.

In December, 2009, Grace moved into its first facility on Heritage Drive. Grace remained at that location until January 2015. The church grew from those few families to over 200 members, with 600-800 attending the worship services on Sunday mornings and more children than the facility could handle.

After much prayer and conversation, on January 11th, 2015, Grace moved its Sunday morning worship to the recently renovated Oxford Middle School. This move dramatically increased our worship space and children ministry capacity. In October of 2018, Grace moved to a facility on West Oxford Loop as an office building. 

In August of 2020, Grace moved to a building on University Avenue to serve as an office and meet additional ministry needs. For a couple of years, Grace operated out of this facility, utilizing it for both worship services and office space.

In February of 2021, Grace entered into a long-term agreement to lease our facility at 1720a University Avenue. With more than 21,000 square feet of space, we believed this space could serve the needs of our congregation for decades to come. We knew that this renovation project would enable us to enlarge and update audio and visual capabilities in the auditorium, update the kitchen and gymnasium, provide new offices for staff, replace HVAC units, provide a dedicated and secure children’s area, renovate the gymnasium, and create dedicated space for youth and college students.

On April 30, 2023, Grace Bible Church held its first service in the renovated 1720 University Avenue facility, construction having begun in July of 2022. 

Grace has grown and many of the faces have changed, yet the mission remains the same: to preach and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in Oxford, and to make and support disciples who will take that same gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. By God’s grace we hope to continually grow more and more into that mission, and to fulfill the biblical mandate to “present everyone perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).