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A church in the city

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Brad and Shauna Huebert

Calgary needs Jesus. The people of Urban Grace see the dense and diverse city as a place that Jesus loves deeply because of the people who live there: “We want to bring the grace of Jesus to Calgary,” says pastor Trevor Rysavy.

This will only be done as the church unites together to minister and proclaim the gospel.

Trevor, his wife Lesley, and their community of faith are burdened with a deep love for their city as a strategic place of ministry and are believing God for a movement of churches across the city. Strategically located in the heart of Calgary is their expression of faith, community, and ministry; Urban Grace Church.

A dream that began to form in 2007 took root in 2010 when Urban Grace was birthed. Urban Grace is all about lifting high the name of Jesus in the intersection of faith, life, and the transformation of people.

Elroy and Lynn Senneker

“Jesus has been good and kind to show favour as we continue to preach about him and live out the effects of his grace
in our lives,” Trevor says. “[We believe] more than ever that Jesus will continue to use Urban Grace to be a church-planting
church. That’s our dream!”

Already, that dream has taken hold.

Community Grace Church in Calgary under the leadership of Elroy and Lynn Senneker is the first church that Urban Grace helped start.

In addition to the Sennekers, Urban Grace served as “incubator” for two other church planting apprentices preparing to launch new ministries: Brad and Shauna Huebert (Manifest) and Vinh and Laura Doan (Village Church Calgary).

Apprenticeship allows a planting couple to clarify their vision, discern their target neighbourhood, develop the leadership skills needed to plant, and begin to gather a launch team.

Trevor and Lesley Rysavy

As part of the C2C Network, Trevor serves as a facilitator for C2C’s “Church Planter’s Incubator” in Alberta. At C2C’s recent annual summit in Quebec City, Trevor and Lesley shared their heart and burden for church planting couples and
the challenges planters face in starting new missional outposts across Canada.

Meeting at the Kerby Centre in downtown Calgary, Urban Grace focuses on sharing the gospel, teaching the Bible, and equipping people to live as missionaries in an urban context. Everything Urban Grace does is about lifting high the name
of Jesus, making much of him and his work of salvation on the cross.

[Mark Burch is the Canadian director of the C2C Network. He lives in B.C.

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