The Grace Community Church of Riverside is the result of a Home Bible Study that began in October 1979, led by our founding pastor, Brian Smith. From that Bible Study a church was born, with its first official church service taking place in March 1980. For the first thirteen years, we rented the La Sierra Collegiate Church on the La Sierra Campus of Loma Linda University. Being Seventh Day Adventists, they were quite generous in allowing us to rent their facility on Sunday mornings. At first, we rented only one room, but as the years went by, we eventually rented their entire facility. Then, in December of 1992, we moved into our very own facility at 4247 Van Buren Blvd, just one block north of California Avenue.

All our ministries are designed to achieve the GCC Purpose Statement: To Take Jesus Christ to Lost People, and Lost People to Jesus Christ. We believe our primary mission is to share with others the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that to take place, we encourage our members to be witnesses for Jesus Christ where they live, work, play, and go to school. The greatest tool we know of to assist them in doing that is a growing knowledge of God’s Word, the Bible. It literally transforms lives inside out. The emphasis, then, in all our ministries—Nursery to Adult—is to teach the Bible as literally and practically as possible. Methods of evangelism may differ, but the power of a transformed life in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ illustrates the reality of our living Savior to all with whom we come in contact. That is the aroma that draws people first to us and then to Jesus Christ.

Our two services on Sunday mornings (9:00 a.m., and 10:30 a.m.) are informal times of Worship and Bible Study. Casual dress is the norm, with contemporary Worship, that makes even some of the “Golden Oldies” seem fresh and new. Our pastor, Brian Smith, teaches the Bible each week, usually chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse. He occasionally attempts a “topical sermon,” but feels more comfortable letting the Bible speak for itself. That, he states, also prevents him from avoiding those passages of Scripture that make most people uncomfortable, including himself.

Our history is one of people “visiting” GCC. What began as four families in 1980 is now 250 families who want you to feel comfortable because they know what it's like to be a “stranger.” Our “Family Bible Hour,” which runs concurrently with each of the two Worship Services, has a superior trained staff for Nursery – Adult.