In May of 1997, five young adults moved to Mississauga. None of them had lived in Ontario before, but all of them felt God leading them to bring the love of Jesus to this city. They knew no one, but were confident that God was directing them, and so they began making relationships with the goal of starting a church. After meeting with a few pastors in the city, the team learned that Mississauga was known as “a church planter's graveyard.”

The story of how God had brought the team together in the first place is truly incredible. Bartley Sawatsky and Nathan Bryant met while at Bible school in New Brunswick. They then “coincidentally” met up again in Washington, DC, along with Nathan's twin brother, Philip. The trio roomed together while attending Washington Bible College and Capital Bible Seminary, unaware of how God would unite them for ministry in the future. But just a few short years later, Nathan received an invitation (from the Home Missions board of the Grace Brethren Fellowship) to begin a church in Canada. He called Bartley, who was serving in Québec at the time, and the team came together and began raising support to move to Mississauga.

On September 13, 1998, they launched Grace Community Church with just 13 adults. Since that time God has done amazing things.

Grace is now a church of about 300 and has helped launch 3 new churches as well – in Milton, Vancouver, and Medicine Hat.

The church is committed to developing leaders and is poised to begin multiplying churches across the GTA.