The first small strides by Grace

In the mid-1998, three young men met up at a common friend's farewell and God willed that they share their heart and convictions with each other. On that dimly lit street, even though few others too participated in the conversation, God stirred up the hearts of these three young men, and they treasured the talk for an unusually long while. A few months later, they met up again. When they discovered that they shared the same fiery passion, carried the same burden in their hearts, and envisioned the similar dream for the city and for their own future; an unspoken covenant happened between them. Consequently, they started meeting every Tuesday evenings for prayer and for seeking the Lord.

In February 1999, they also started meeting on Fridays at the youth gathering of one of the churches. In April 1999, they were joined by another young man who too shared their same passion and burden. Together they kept meeting on Tuesdays and Fridays. The passion in their hearts to facilitate their peers to see the love of God displayed through the gospel got fanned. Since they believed that there were other young people in the city who would join in, they shared their passion with them. Some joined the movement but many more showed initial interest only. Due to communal riots in the city of Ahmedabad, the meetings got shifted to a neutral venue in June 1999. Since then it has continued to be in this venue, the main venue of Grace!

The meeting that happened on Fridays came to be known as the Friday Meeting. Thousands were catered to through the weekly gatherings and various events and activities organized from time to time. A lot happened in the next six years! In the year 2005, the Friday Meeting evolved into a church. Though the immediate consequences of this decision took a heavy toll on these young men, all of whom had by then married, they persevered through the tough times, being bound together by the Lord himself. Very soon, the struggles paved way for many people slowly responding to the gospel. New songs were written. The word delivered in the gatherings started becoming more and more powerful! The Lord started moving.

It's more than eight years since then! Grace Fellowship has catered to tens of thousands by now and has already made an impact at various levels which is unprecedented for a church of its size and maturity! Today around 200 people are part of the fellowship regularly, not to count the numerous who have traversed through it in these past several years! It continues to dream big, attempt big and achieve big. All by the grace of the Lord! All for His sake! The three young men who started it are Pastor Joseph Mathew, Pastor Geo Verghese and Pastor Blesson Varghese. Samson Thomas was the fourth friend to join them a few months later. Today the Grace family has many more names to talk about. You will read about them in the other pages. God bless.