Staunton Grace Covenant Church began as a home group of Grace Covenant Church in Harrisonburg, VA in 1994. We first began to meet on Thursday evenings in the home of Buel and Becky Messer. Dick Blackwell, then the pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Harrisonburg, gave primary leadership to the group. We later moved to rented space on Market St. at the Temple House of Israel, the local synagogue in Staunton.
On September 7, 1996, during a regular Sunday service at Grace Covenant in Harrisonburg, the home group of approximately 50 people was sent out and commissioned as a church plant of Grace Covenant and took the name Staunton Grace Covenant Church. On September 14, 1996, the church held its first Sunday morning service in the Temple House of Israel sanctuary.
Steve and Jane Paulus began serving in leadership of the church on August 1, 1996. Steve was installed as the first pastor in October, 1996. The church continued to experience growth and participated in local outreaches and cooperative efforts with other area churches. Some of these included assistance with purchasing and refurbishing a new building for the First Church of God in Christ of Staunton, Encounter’98, a cooperative evangelistic effort of over 100 local churches which sponsored a week of meetings at the Augusta Expo, and a special fundraising event in partnership with other local churches in support of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.
In September, 1999, the church held the first half of its Sunday service in the Temple House sanctuary, walked six blocks to 410 W. Beverley St., the former St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (then owned by Guardian Angel Academy) and concluded the service. We purchased the St. Paul’s building from Guardian Angel in December of 2000. We continue to serve the Staunton-Augusta County area with regular Sunday services and various classes, homegroups, cooperative efforts, and outreach ministries. We are a home to the faithful, a resource to the community and a witness to the world.
