FUTURE GRACE CAMPUS

strengthen our hands

Expanding Our Capacity

To Equip You

For Life

Equipping for Life

Equipping is not only our calling, but our purpose. It is in our Spiritual DNA as a movement and a local church body.

Jesus is the reason we teach, disciple, and encourage one another, so that we may be equipped for the life to which He is calling us. God is for us and has already given us the spiritual tools and equipment to walk in victory and defeat every giant.

Our intention at Grace is to align our hearts and minds with that of God, our Father. We want to see people the way He sees people so that they will be equipped to walk in the power and glory that comes only from Him.

A huge part of Equipping for Life is to help every believer within the Body of Christ discover spiritual gifts for which they are designed and purposed by God. As each person steps into anointing with their gifts, the Body of Christ is nurtured, built up, and expands exponentially.

Strengthen Our Hands

Foundations & Present Day

Grace has had a burden to make a difference in Buffalo and beyond since we began in a train car named “Chapel Car Grace” in 1938. Though many challenges and difficulties were faced throughout the seasons, the Grace family stuck together and trusted the Lord.

For Grace there exists a rich legacy of generational movement toward spreading the Gospel to the nations, both through acts of giving and missions. Now, we are stepping into the calling God has placed upon us to become a powerful force, not only in face-to-face relationships, but also through online ministry. We are called to equip leaders who have a passion for advancing the kingdom of God by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Today, we humbly stand on the shoulders of those who prayed, sacrificed, and gave beyond what could be imagined for this moment to become a reality.

Build

The Future

Change is hard, but we have outgrown the building that has served us well for 85 years, and our mandate is clear: we must expand.  Kingdom people should never be characterized by a building; our current building on Fort and Burritt must not define us, nor will we allow the new facility to do so.

God has spoken and we are on a wonderful journey of obedience. It is time to build! It is time to ask God to Strengthen Our Hands for the task at hand! Anything less than obedience would lead us outside of what God is calling us to do. To accomplish the task set before us, we will need miracles of all sizes, but we know that God is strengthening us to build, and He is in the business of performing miracles!

This new facility and supporting spaces will enable us to grow; to hold Family Night in our own building, host special events for our community, facilitate weddings and funerals effectively, and become the new home of Buffalo Christian Academy.

Let us stand together in this pivotal hour as a movement of hearts focused on seeing God’s Kingdom released on earth as it is in heaven!

A Message from

Paul Gilbert

We have heard, we have seen, we have received the mandate.  Our calling is not to build a building for the sake of building. The mandate is to equip children, students, families, men and women to be world changers.  In order to properly steward this mandate, the need for ample facilities and room to grow has become increasingly apparent.

The next step in our calling is to build an entirely new campus where we can pursue God’s calling to both our church and the movement He is creating through us.

The last several years I have seen specific “God joinings” – people He has brought to join the rest of us, additional pieces to the puzzle of God’s calling and purpose in Buffalo and beyond.  He has put you and me together for such a time as this. That isn’t all! There will be more “God joinings” – people whom God assigns to be a part of the Grace story and journey. I hope you can feel it: the heartbeat of what God is up to! He is building His Kingdom in an amazing, but unlikely place so that He receives ALL the glory.

I want to invite you to become a part of this story. Please do not miss out on the AMAZING that God is up to and watch the miracle as He “Strengthens our Hands” to equip this and many future generations.

Paul Gilbert, Lead Pastor at Grace

Pastor Paul & Marlyce Gilbert

Prophetic Words

Prophetic words and prayers that have been spoken over Grace and the property:

Pastor Paul Gilbert

September 4, 2014

“I am believing God that here at Grace Fellowship we are going to be amazed at our God in the days, the weeks, the months and the years ahead.  I believe we should expect to be amazed…because that is the kind of God we serve.”

Marietta Wright

April 17, 2022

“I hear the Lord say Joshua 1:3 ‘Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.’ Also, I believe that the Lord says that this place would be a school and a hospital to bring people back to life, and heal them from their woundedness.”

Note: Adding to the already powerful experience of Marietta receiving this word while walking on the property, the additional 4.5 acres were gifted to Grace merely two weeks later.

Peter Xu

November 6, 2022

I see what happened in Genesis 28 when Jacob had the dream at Bethel. Just as the heavens opened in his dream, verily, verily I tell the disciples here, “You will see the heavens open and you will see the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of God.” Lord, may you open the heavens in this place. Would you anoint this place? Use this property as a gateway to heaven. Lord, may you make this property your garden. Lord, may you train people from all over the world in this place to advance your Kingdom. We can see Your glory here.

Bishop James from Cameron

I sense this will be a place where people come to join and where children will be impacted.

Matthew Schlichting

February 9, 2023

The property will act like a beacon, drawing tired and worn-out people to find a peace. God will crush strongholds of the enemy and in place of the stronghold build a place of rest and peace.

Building the Future

With fearless resolve, we are investing in the lives of individuals we have never encountered and may never meet, as well as in the generations to come. We are trusting God that those who follow after us will find us faithful stewards to the call to Strengthen Our Hands to Build.

This is more than a call.

Now is the time—time to build for the purposes of our God! We stand together as unified people, equipped and empowered to impact a community and untold numbers of people around the world.

This is more than a building.

We believe that, as we join together in unity, we will reach those who share our passion and would partner with us in answering the call of Isaiah 43:18-19: “To forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” For a waiting world and the next generation we pray, Strengthen Our Hands, so that many can encounter the power of the living Lord.

Quick Facts

  • 10 acre property
  • 543 seat capacity
  • Dedicated space for children’s ministry
  • 10 times the current lobby space
  • Large outdoor community space
  • Walking trails
  • Ample parking
God has issued Grace a mandate: to equip children, students, families, men and women to be world changers. Now is the time to build for the purposes of our God! We stand together as unified people, equipped and empowered to impact our community and untold numbers of people around the world! God has demonstrated His awesome provision to Grace, and that provision continues to spread into the lives of others in unimaginable ways.

And so we continue to step into faith in alignment with God. We are investing in what we believe will have a global impact in the Kingdom of Heaven. Through this mandate we pray, “God, strengthen our hands to build and prepare the way for Your presence to be manifest here on earth, so that others may be equipped to step into the purpose and destiny to which You have called them.”

We invite you to prayerfully consider sowing into this vision by making a gift today or standing with us in faith for the extent of the Strengthen Our Hands campaign with a 2-year commitment. Your support will enable us to reach more people, create a stronger sense of community internationally, and ultimately, make a positive impact on people’s lives.

We would be honored to have a personal conversation with you if you are interested in learning more about different kinds of gifts, or other creative giving opportunities you may have in mind.    Contact us to begin the conversation.

Updates

2018 – 2021

Possibilities

Grace considered a number of properties and possibilities, but God closed all of the doors.

July 2021

Offer Presented

The Grace Family voted to purchase 5.5 acres of the Bergner property located on the corner of South Main Street and Cemetery Road.  The offer made was $300,000 cash with two contingencies:

The City of Buffalo giving Grace a Conditional Use Permit

An acceptable Geo Soil Test completed on the new property

March 2022

Property Purchased

With the contengencies met, the property was purchased. God provided the $300,000 cash for the 5.5 acres.

May 2022

Expanding

The adjacent 4.5 acres to the west was available, however, Grace did not have the funding to purchase this additional acreage.  Our prayer was, if the Lord wanted us to have the property, He would provide a way.

June 2022

The Gift

God provided a way as the adjacent 4.5 acres was paid for and gifted to Grace.  The new Grace Campus is now a total of 10 acres on the corner of Main Street and Cemetery Road, owned free and clear.

July 2022

Brown House Sold

Believing the timing was right, Grace sold the Brown House (former parsonage) for $326,000.

August 2022

Buffalo Christian Academy

Buffalo Christian Academy was invited to move to the new Grace Campus upon its completion.  The leadership of BCA accepted the offer and will be housed in the new Grace Campus building.

November 2022

Matching Grant

An unnamed foundation offered Grace a $400,000 matching grant.  The terms of the grant stipulated that the funds must be raised by the end of the year in order to be matched.  Miraculously, the Grace family raised $413,000 by 12/31/2022.  So the $400,000 became $813,000. 

Commit to Strengthen Our Hands

Together, we have given and committed 25% of the funds needed to build!

What we have seen is already miraculous!

God’s many provisions include 10 acres of land for the future Grace campus, owned free and clear, and a $400,000 matching grant that, in just five weeks, became $813,000. God is on the move; can you feel it?!

As it stands, our funding has reached $1.4 million. Our next step is the process of submitting the project to bid for obtaining an exact cost. At present, we anticipate the need of approximately $5 million to bring Phase 1 of the project to completion. This first phase is a facility measuring 17,000 square feet that will enable us to discontinue leasing space at the Bomber Mountain Civic Center, as we will be able to host and launch all that God is calling us to accomplish in this space.

Throughout the next two years, we will continue to seek what God desires to accomplish through us, both spiritually and financially, as we commit ourselves to the mission to “Strengthen Our Hands.”
We are not asking anyone to simply give what they can afford to give. We are challenging ourselves through a “faith promise.” A “faith promise” is when each of us asks God what He wants to provide through us, and then we trust Him for the miracle of provision in that amount.

Thank you for choosing to stand in faith with us to see this important vision come to completion. Every seed sown into “Strengthen Our Hands” is an investment in the transformation of future generations and impacts the course of history.

Each of us plays an important part in the move of God. The work is underway, but it won’t be complete without you!