Church Background

Rev Laurie Dennison and his wife Gwen moved to the Gretna area in 1998 and became aware of a need in the area for an evangelical witness. At this time Laurie was the pastor of the Carlisle Baptist Church. Rev Sandy Griegg and his wife Janette, also a retired Baptist minister and living in Dalbeattie shared this vision, and they, with Laurie and Gwen and some others from around the area, including some from Carlisle Baptist church, commenced a monthly prayer meeting for the needs of the area. Leaflets were also distributed around the area from time to time. Rev Laurie Dennison retired from Carlisle Baptist Church in March 2006, and a group of Christians asked him to consider opening a work in Gretna. After much prayer a mid-week Bible Study and Prayer Group was formed as a step up from the monthly prayer meeting.

This showed a group of committed people sharing the same vision and naturally progressed to an evening service held in the home of the Dennisons and so a 'house church' was born on May 7th 2006. The belief was that when the house became too small as the numbers increased, then a move would be made out into the town as an official church. As numbers increased, enquiries were made, other churches informed, and on the 15th October 2006 Gretna Community Church was born.

God's Provision

The venue for worship was a high priority on the prayer list and we applied to meet in the local community centre which is in the very heart of Gretna.

This was granted at a very reasonable rate and as we prayed and planned equipment was gifted to us. Equipment we had not asked for was donated to us, and this has been upgraded as the need has arisen, allowing us to record our services and also use a screen to project our hymns. In the small group of 12 founder members we had everything we needed from preacher, musician (pianist and guitarist), secretary, treasurer, and even a Sunday school teacher ready for children when they came to us. God had gone before us and prepared the way.

God's Ways

In the enthusiasm of these early days, the members felt like the early church, and received many blessings on the work as they prayed and witnessed together. It was therefore a shock, ten months later, for the minister of this young church, Rev Laurie Dennison, to receive a diagnosis of terminal cancer with no previous history of cancer and within a few weeks God took him home to heaven. His death on 1st October 2007 made a huge impact on those in the church. God met with them in times of prayer as a church and showed them that the church was to remain and a new commitment was made to continue the work that had been started. Gifted speakers have led the worship every Sunday and the church has now grown and new people from the area are joining in worship. How we long for a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God and pray that revival might come to us here in Gretna. If you read this then please pray with us to this end, if you are on holiday come and join with us in worship. We would love to welcome you to our little corner of the world.