How we got started
Grace Community Church was launched in 1983 as a Bible study led by Rev. Sam Schutz of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
This nucleus group formed a new church and called the Rev. Dan Johnson and his wife, Sue, from Pittsburgh, PA. Dan led the first church service on March 24, 1985. Under Dan's leadership, the church began meeting in the library of Orange Grove Middle School.
A permanent home
Rev. Scot Gillan became Grace's pastor on December 20, 1992. Under Scot's tenure, the church bought land and built its first building at 9755 N La Cholla Blvd, shifting its focus to Oro Valley and northwest Tucson.
Scot’s work was continued and expanded by Rev. David Hillis, who led Grace into a building expansion focused on improving our classroom spaces for children and youth.
Where we're headed
Grace's current pastor is the Rev. Sam Gyorfi. Sam accepted a call to minister here in September, 2021 and comes to us from the International Church of Zurich, Switzerland.
We love children at Grace. Our Children’s Ministry Directors, Lucy Hill and Melanie Irwin, have been recently joined by Maddie Yager, our new Director of Youth Ministry. Come see for yourself how God is making Grace a place of hope and light in our community.
