The Word of Grace Bible Church is a growing group of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from the Milwaukee area who share in common God’s gift of salvation through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus and a common desire to serve and glorify Him. As a conservative “Bible” church, we consistently strive to maintain a distinctively Biblical emphasis. This involves sharing our Lord’s own evangelistic burden for the lost and teaching the fundamental truths of God’s Word to the saved for their edification and equipping. As the Word of “Grace” Bible Church, we also seek to emphasize the marvelous grace of God which is the basis for our Gospel message (Acts 20:24), as well as the basis upon which the saints are built up in their faith (Acts 20:32).
This fellowship of believers began in February 1997 when a small group of spiritually hungry believers from Milwaukee contacted the leadership of the Duluth Bible Church in Duluth, MN with a desire for regular, sound Bible teaching. Over the next few months, several qualified men were sent from the Duluth Bible Church to Milwaukee to teach monthly home Bible studies. As the teaching of God’s Word was steadily received and supported, the study became an official Church-planting ministry of the Duluth Bible Church by June of 1997, known generically as “The Milwaukee Bible Study.” God continued to bless the accurate proclamation of His Word, and in the Fall of 1997, Milwaukee Bible Study began meeting twice a month at conference rooms in the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa and later at the Comfort Suites in Pewaukee. By the Fall of 1998, it was apparent that many attendees of M.B.S. no longer identified it as just a “Bible study” but as their own church. After having waited on the Lord and His sovereign timing, the leadership of the Duluth Bible Church recognized that the Lord was indeed planting a new church and the decision was made to start holding weekly services in September of 1998. In January of 1999, the leadership of the Duluth Bible Church ordained Tom Stegall, the primary teacher of the Milwaukee Bible Study from ’97-’99, and he was installed as the new pastor. On January 31, 1999, the Milwaukee Bible Study officially became an independent, autonomous, self-governing church, and voted to change its name to the Word of Grace Bible Church. From January 31, 1999 to August 31, 2003, services were held weekly at the Schuetze Recreation Center in Waukesha. In September 7, 2003, Sunday morning and Wednesday night services were held at the Center for Excellence in Learning in Waukesha.
In August of 2006 Rick Gerhartz was added as a deacon to the Church Board. After gathering for church functions for a number of years at the “Center for Excellence” in Waukesha, WI, Word of Grace Bible Church purchased a church building in August of 2008 (by God’s amazing grace) on the corner of 88th and Cleveland Avenue, in the city of West Allis. In addition to our regular church services, and church related activities, we are now able to host an annual summer Vacation Bible School (typically in July).
In May of 2009 Rick Gerhartz was added as an additional elder to the Church Board. As pastor/teacher he assisted Pastor Stegall in shepherding, teaching, counseling, and administrative duties here at Word of Grace Bible Church. In the autumn of 2011 Pastor Stegall came to the settled conviction that he would resign as pastor/teacher of Word of Grace Bible Church to take a position as the Publications Director at Duluth Bible Church, in Duluth, MN. His duties would involve writing, editing, and publishing grace-oriented, sound materials from a dispensational perspective. In December of 2011 associate Pastor Rick Gerhartz resigned from his secular employment and assumed the role as the full time pastor/teacher in January of 2012. Despite these changes, we can rejoice that our great God has been extremely faithful, and that the saints have been growing in grace, and that the gospel message is still being preached. Word of Grace Bible Church is still committed, as it has been from day one, in its Grace-oriented, Christ-centered, Bible-based focus.