In 1955, seventeen men and women felt called by God to form a new church. At first they met in the Y.M.C.A. on South Park Street in Halifax, but after a short time they began to use the former site of Bethany United Church near the Armdale Rotary. God blessed this small fledgling work and in 1960, at the corner of Frederick and Willett Streets, Fairview Bible Chapel was built.
In the 1970’s, the church experienced considerable growth. Two sister churches were planted in the early 1980’s, Colby Drive Bible Chapel in Dartmouth and Fall River Community Chapel. Both churches are still thriving. Soon it became apparent that new facilities would be necessary to accommodate the growth. Our present building, Grace Chapel, was dedicated to the glory of God in 1986.
Grace Chapel is an evangelical church with roots in the Christian Brethren movement, a radical movement that began in Great Britain in the early 1800’s with the intent to return to the simplicity and spiritual intensity of the church of the New Testament.
Our life together continues to be shaped by this movement. Our commitment to lay ministry, our desire to foster the gifts of every man and woman in our community, our commitment to weekly communion, and our structure of leadership (by a plurality of elders) all grow out of the strengths of this movement.
While these roots continue to shape our life and we thank God for them, we are also conscious that we are greatly in debt to the historic universal church of Jesus Christ. We want to be open to the strengths of all the various traditions within the church of Jesus Christ. We also seek to honour the commitment of our founding seventeen men and women who were open to new movements of God’s Spirit, open to a new and radical obedience to God’s Word.
In our best moments (after all, we are a community of broken sinners), our church has been characterized by faith-filled worship, warm community, gifted and active lay leadership, engaging Biblical teaching, and a strong commitment to mission in God’s world.
