After being a Christian for most of his life and always trying to please God through self-effort, Shayne Holesgrove began to receive the message of grace through the ministry of Andrew Wommack in 2003. The impact of this revelation of the goodness of God radically changed his life. He began to experience effortless change, more (and lasting) joy and true freedom as he discovered that he was unconditionally loved, accepted and favoured.

From 2009 to 2011, Shayne and His wife Marna completed Charis Bible College where they grew in the revelation of God’s love, and were being prepared for a life of ministry. During December 2009 while Shayne was in his first year of College at Colorado, God spoke to Shayne calling him into the ministry as a pastor. Shortly after this call into ministry, God spoke to Shayne about planting a church in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

When Shayne returned to South Africa from Colorado, USA, in May 2010, a few people that he knew came up to him, not knowing what was going on in his heart, and said that they felt God calling them to be a part of whatever he and his wife were going to do.

On 18 July 2010 seven believers gathered together in a small apartment in Stellenbosch and GraceLife was born! It was all birthed from a revelation of God’s unconditional love and grace through the finished work of Jesus, and a desire to share this wonderful, life-changing message with others.

On 29 August 2010 we moved away from being a home church, and met in a public venue for the first time. We instantly doubled to about 40 people and quickly grew to between 60 and 80 people in four months. Since then we’ve grown to become a church-planting ministry which focuses on:

• Reaching out with the Gospel of Grace, which brings a culture and environment of grace, freedom, acceptance and love. It promotes relationship with Father God (life), not religious service (dead works).
• Establishing believers in the truth of the Word (discipleship), which helps to mature, equip and release every believer to a life of mission in the ministry of reconciliation, with signs and wonders following.
• Planting “Grace Communities” (churches) which will reach out with the Gospel and empower believers through discipleship to impact their world.

Since the birth of GraceLife we have had the privilege of ministering into different parts of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Albania and The United States. Through our teaching resources and website God has used us to influence people all over the world including; The United Kingdom, Brazil, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Namibia. One of our discipleship tools (written by Shayne Holesgrove) has been translated in part or in whole into, Albanian and Portuguese, and it is currently being translated into Afrikaans.

One of our biggest qualities as a church family is our strong sense of community. We value strong godly relationships. However, we are not merely on mission to build a strong community, rather we are a strong community on a mission.