How it all started...
Grace Bible Fellowship of Tilton, NH
In 2004, I was living in Southern California attending Calvary Chapel Bible College and interning at Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship (www.ccbf.net). Knowing that God was calling us back home to New Hampshire to plant a church we packed up and returned the Concord area in January of 2005.
Many people had been praying for a church in Concord so we started a having a home study at our house. I was working as a real estate agent for the next 2 years while we were meeting. When the real estate market crashed we were forced to change our lives and we moved out of the area.
We lived in Vermont for a few years attending Calvary Chapel West River Valley. This was a growing time for my family and me. We returned to Concord in 2010 and started a midweek home Bible study.
We moved to Laconia a year later to be closer to the people in our fellowship. It was in Laconia that we started meeting on Sunday mornings. In 2015 we decided to buy a home a few towns over in Franklin. We continued to meet weekly.
In 2016, I was asked by a friend to assist him with a church renewal in North Sutton, NH. Our home church merged with them for about a year and a half.
We soon realized that church renewal was not what we were called to, but rather church planting was what God had for us. We made our announcement that we were leaving in March of 2017.
I began to speak with several like minded pastors and men and we decided to form our New Hampshire non-profit. We filed the paperwork with the state and officially became Grace Bible Fellowship. In April of 2017 we began meeting at the Bessie Rowell Community Center.
In August of 2018 we moved to a more permanent location in a mill building in Tilton.
From that time we have been growing and growing, not only in size but in service, in the Lord and in love toward one another.
In 2021, I came on board as GBF's full-time pastor.
In 2024 we affiliated with the CCA (Calvary Chapel Association) making us an official Calvary Chapel.
-Pastor Jay Runyon
In 2004, I was living in Southern California attending Calvary Chapel Bible College and interning at Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship (www.ccbf.net). Knowing that God was calling us back home to New Hampshire to plant a church we packed up and returned the Concord area in January of 2005.
Many people had been praying for a church in Concord so we started a having a home study at our house. I was working as a real estate agent for the next 2 years while we were meeting. When the real estate market crashed we were forced to change our lives and we moved out of the area.
We lived in Vermont for a few years attending Calvary Chapel West River Valley. This was a growing time for my family and me. We returned to Concord in 2010 and started a midweek home Bible study.
We moved to Laconia a year later to be closer to the people in our fellowship. It was in Laconia that we started meeting on Sunday mornings. In 2015 we decided to buy a home a few towns over in Franklin. We continued to meet weekly.
In 2016, I was asked by a friend to assist him with a church renewal in North Sutton, NH. Our home church merged with them for about a year and a half.
We soon realized that church renewal was not what we were called to, but rather church planting was what God had for us. We made our announcement that we were leaving in March of 2017.
I began to speak with several like minded pastors and men and we decided to form our New Hampshire non-profit. We filed the paperwork with the state and officially became Grace Bible Fellowship. In April of 2017 we began meeting at the Bessie Rowell Community Center.
In August of 2018 we moved to a more permanent location in a mill building in Tilton.
From that time we have been growing and growing, not only in size but in service, in the Lord and in love toward one another.
In 2021, I came on board as GBF's full-time pastor.
In 2024 we affiliated with the CCA (Calvary Chapel Association) making us an official Calvary Chapel.
-Pastor Jay Runyon
Expanding the vision...
As a church we are not content with sitting in a building week after week and learning about the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ. We desire to be active in the community putting what we learn into practice.
We are in the business of making disciples (those that learn) for Jesus. The work of the ministry is the work of all of the body of Christ and we desire to have everyone in our church actively serving the Lord, not only at church, but in their daily lives. We include all ages in instruction and in various areas of ministry.
We are endeavoring to become a resource for the communities in which we live and work. Our desire is to share an accurate picture of Jesus in our society.
We are in the business of making disciples (those that learn) for Jesus. The work of the ministry is the work of all of the body of Christ and we desire to have everyone in our church actively serving the Lord, not only at church, but in their daily lives. We include all ages in instruction and in various areas of ministry.
We are endeavoring to become a resource for the communities in which we live and work. Our desire is to share an accurate picture of Jesus in our society.
Where we are headed...
It has often been said that the children and teens of our churches are the next generation of the church. This is not true. They are the church. We include them in our services and in instruction so that they are a part of the church body now, not at some distant point in the future.
What we see in our youth group is the part of the church that needs discipleship, and what better way than through serving where God has gifted them. If they learn early, they have many more years to serve than previous generations have allowed.
What we see in our youth group is the part of the church that needs discipleship, and what better way than through serving where God has gifted them. If they learn early, they have many more years to serve than previous generations have allowed.
