Grace Family Church Ballito: Where faith meets radical acceptance
The church has a large emphasis on family and offers two Sunday services which cater to around 500 adults.
Grace Family Church Ballito continues to be led by its “come as you are” guiding principle.
One of four brick and mortar churches under the Grace banner, the Ballito campus first started in Ballito central ten years ago before moving to its current location off the R102 two years later.
Co-leaders and pastors Marc and Mandy Porée have been there for seven years after moving back to the coast from their ministry in Greytown.
“It was all just God’s good timing really,” said Marc.
“We met Grace Church founders Mark and Christine van Straaten at the Global Leadership summit, and a few months later we found ourselves leading the Ballito campus.”
The original Grace Family Church congregation was founded in 1992 and established its flagship home in Umhlanga in 2005, before adding new locations at Riverside, Cornubia and Ballito.
Grace also offers a digital campus via their website at grace.org.za.
“If you go to any of our churches, they should feel recognisably similar, but with their own unique feel,” said Marc.
“All campus pastors preach the same themes in their own ways. It should be seamless for someone to move from one congregation to another.”
Grace Family Church is led by senior pastor Wayne Taylor.
The churches also have centralised financial administration and an executive leadership group which has representation from each individual campus.
And the primary goal of all involved is to “love God, love people and work to make a difference” for anyone who might walk through their door, said Marc.
“It’s important to us that even ‘non-church’ people, or those still searching feel welcome when they come here.”
“People should feel safe to come and ask any questions they may have.”
That is not limited to questions of religion either, and the Ballito campus has well established counselling resources to help those in need.
The counselling ministry has many counsellors from within the congregation, while also partnering with outside groups such as Project Exodus.
Help is offered for addiction recovery and healing from traumatic events, among others.
“We want to be a part of the community and to use the resources we have to offer assistance. One of the ways we do this is through our Missions and Justice department who partner with over 50 local NGOs.
“Grace Family Church is committed to building community through small groups, with a desire for everyone to feel known, cared for and included. The principle of ‘come as you are’ really is something we believe in and anyone is welcome.”
The church has a large emphasis on family and offers two Sunday services which cater to around 500 adults.
One is at 8.15am and the other at 10am. It is the same service and is only split because of space constraints.
You can find the church just off the R102, about 1.5km towards Tongaat from the Ballito R102 turnoff.
For more information, visit grace.org.za/ballito-campus or Grace Family Church – Ballito Campus on Facebook.
Contact them at 063 528 5129 or via email at ballito@grace.org,za.
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