Grace Community Fellowship

Church History

Short History of Grace Community Fellowship

To commence Pastor Marcus Banks' vision for ministry, he held a community conference entitled "Still Standing," on September 11, 2002. The focus of the conference was to provide a venue for area Christians to find spiritual strength through each other's testimonies. This conference attracted 350 attendees and is where Pastor Banks announced the formation of Grace Community Fellowship (GCF). The church's motto is "Bridging the Gaps of Denominationalism, while Delivering a Message of Hope, Healing, and Restoration." The vision of GCF is:

To teach the word of God in an uncompromising manner.
To honor God with all our lives, finances, talents, ministries, and fellowships.
To encourage the brokenhearted through the sound application of the word of God.
To achieve victory through spiritual maturity of every life that comes into contact with this ministry.
To instill to believers an unwavering faith in God.
To save souls by taking the Gospel to as many as will hear it through every possible media.
To provide intense training to prepare others to be effective in ministry.
To offer sincere sacrifices of praise by being the true worshippers, which Christ seeks.
To nurture and restore the family unit.

Each member is encouraged to embrace, live and pursue the vision to attain personal and corporate excellence. In pursuit of the mission, GCF focuses on three core areas: worship, discipleship, and outreach.

GCF was born in obedience to a mighty vision given to Pastor Banks by God. On October 6, 2002, GCF held its first service at 8:00 a.m. at the Howard Johnson hotel on Jefferson Davis Highway in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was during this meeting that Pastor Banks stated that God placed him there to minister to those who are lost and hurting, and to empower the members to help others. Ultimately, GCF's greater mission is to reach far beyond the geographical boundaries of Fredericksburg, Virginia to reach those all over the world who yet still need to have a personal encounter and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. To reach more members in the community, on January 6, 2003, GCF signed its first lease to occupy at 367 Warrenton Road.

God has blessed GCF with many diverse active ministries to include a trustee board, a Christian education department, an usher's board, an evangelism team, a tape ministry, adult and youth fellowships, music ministry and a children's nursery, among others. Through the visionary guidance of Pastor Banks, coupled with the undying spiritual perseverance of many loyal church members, GCF has been active in many events such as special guest speaking engagements, Christian conferences, community fellowships, and sponsoring a vacation Bible school. The current membership is comprised of 96 active members to include the youth.

This past year GCF held its first three-day Women's conference and also launched the website www.gcfministries.org. In July of this year, GCF signed a new lease to begin work and construction of our new 8,000 square foot facility located at the Old Gallahan's building on Lafayette Boulevard. Here we will continue to grow our ministry with the great anticipation that "The Best is Yet To Come!"