Who we are
Our Story
Grace Church Rotorua began as a church plant initiative of the Northern Presbytery of Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.
On Easter Sunday 2010, we put a sign out at Te Ngae Road and held our first service at Lynmore Primary School. We had four visitors from Auckland, Steve and Eva Panapa being the only locals.
In Steve’s words, “All I know is to preach Jesus from the whole bible. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t do so well, but The Lord is among us.” The Lord began sending people to be a part of the church, some of these were local and some were new to Rotorua.
In 2017, Steve and his wife Eva moved to Auckland for health reasons. Paul Henry and his wife Crystal then accepted a call to Rotorua in 2020, moving to Grace Church Tauranga in 2024.
In 2025, Dr Andrew Young accepted a call to Grace Church Rotorua. Andrew Young is the founding Principal of Grace Theological College (NZ), and the current director of the Ezra Ministry – which is aimed at helping Christians Know God and Experience God in their everyday life.
Our prayer in God is that He has much for us to do yet.
Our main focus is to Exalt, Enjoy and Extend God's grace in Jesus Christ
Our Beliefs
Grace Church Rotorua holds strongly to the Bible as its rule of faith and life. As a church, we have a passion for God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and a passion for people.
We believe that the Bible is God's word. It has been fully inspired by God the Holy Spirit and contains all that people need to know for salvation and to understand the world - God's world in which they live.
We are Presbyterian in government, Reformed in theology, and Evangelical in spirit.
10 Essentials of the Westminster Confession of Faith
1. The Bible
We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
2. God
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. Creation and Providence
We believe that God created the world we live in and through providence sustains, governs, and directs all things according to His sovereign will.
4. Humanity and Sin
We believe that we are all are sinners and totally unable to save ourselves from God’s displeasure, except by His mercy. Before the fall mankind had a freedom to choose what was good and pleasing to God, but now is unable to choose any spiritual good.
5. Covenant Theology
We believe that God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His Covenant promises. Covenant theology views all of Scripture as an unfolding covenant relationship between God and His people in which God’s dealings with humanity is based on consistency throughout by grace.
6. Order of Salvation
We believe that God alone sovereignly chooses those He will save, calling them to himself by His Spirit, pardoning them and accepting them as righteous because of Jesus. He adopts them into His family. They forsake their sins in repentance and produce characteristics of a redeemed life. God completes this work He began and they persevere to the end. There is great mystery in these workings of God, which requires much humility from us.
7. The Church
We believe that as the living God renews all things, he has been gathering a people, called the church, from every nation, ethnicity, class, and culture. He instructs His church to become actively invested in the world’s people and problems in productive ways by bringing his truth and values to bear on all of life. Jesus has power and authority to right what is wrong with the world and he chooses the church as his primary instrument for making disciples of all nations. Thus, the church’s mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ through the means of grace that God has provided; ordinarily, God’s Word, the sacraments, and prayer.
8. The Sacraments
We believe Jesus appointed two holy sacraments as signs and seals of the covenant of grace. Baptism is for those who express faith and obedience to Christ and their children. The Lord’s supper was given as a sign of spiritual nourishment and a pledge of communion to Christ and His body.
9. Death and End TImes
We believe that after death our bodies return to the dust but our souls live on forever, the righteous to heaven and the wicked to hell. On God’s appointed day there will be a bodily resurrection and Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.
10. The Gospel
We believe God has provided only one way of salvation, through the sacrifice of Jesus that is to be offered to all people, by His people. He invites and commands everyone everywhere to accept His gracious invitation.
