Our History

Our story began in a meeting in South Africa in 1989, where Terry Virgo felt that God was prompting him to plant a church in Lancing, a village just west of Brighton, where Terry was leading a large church. He responded to God, and in 1990, Grace Church, Lancing was started.

The early days of the church saw many highs and lows. The church experienced leadership changes, some people joined and others moved on. At times it seemed as though the church was not going to survive, but through Terry’s apostolic ministry the then leadership were encouraged to hold on to God’s promise that He would build his church in that area. Those were days of learning to trust God and to love and encourage each other, believing that God wanted to use us.

Then the church began to grow. God was now answering the years of prayer. Leaders were full of faith and several families joined the church as hearts were caught up in the vision that had been so clear to Terry all those years before. Responding to a number of prophetic words, the church moved its meeting place to Worthing, and the growth continued.

One significant prophetic word came from Isaiah 54:2–3
"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”

Since those days there has been a growing excitement that God is with us, and that he wants to do some great things through us.