The history of Word of Grace Bible church is closely intertwined with the fate of the fourth wave of Russian immigration to the United States. Some of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union in 1990 moved to Vancouver, these few families formed the backbone of the future church. At that time, the small town had only one Russian-speaking Pentecostal church. For the first few months the new immigrants gathered together. When the group numbered about 40, the brothers were surprised to learn of another small group of Baptists.
The Pastor of the 14 members was Mikhail Leontiev, who arrived in the U. S. during the third wave of immigration. At the end of 1991 they began to hold meetings together in Portland, renting a room at Hinson Baptist Church at 1137 SE 20th Avenue. In 1994, when the number of members exceeded 200 people, about half of the members separated from the church. It was a peaceful move, allowing large families residing in Vancouver to have a church closer to home.

From 1994 to 1997 the community was going through a turbulent time due to problems common to most immigrant churches. In a short time, the suburbs around Portland were filled with hundreds of Christians, each with their own ideas about what the church should be. Traditions established in Siberia, differed from that of the families from Moscow, the Caucasus, Central Asia or Ukraine. The unique development of each subculture, made their ideas of what a good church should be so different from one other. This created tension between the subgroups, often resulting in conflicts. The absence of strong and mature ministers who could resolve disputes complicated the situation even more. Because of the lack of a common platform that was sufficiently understandable, robust, and flexible to accommodate the different subgroups of Christians, the churches experienced many splits, uniting around a more or less influential leaders. Slavic Baptist Church originated in June 1997, as a result of one of these quarrels.

Practically from its start and up until the day of the consecration of the present church building, the church gathered at the People’s Church located in the city at the corner of Mill Plain and Andresen. The senior pastor of these 89 members was Sergei Petrovich Yelchaninov supported by nine brothers of the church council. They were united by a desire not just to survive after immigration, but to build a church strong enough to become the basis of the spiritual development of their children and youth.
The church grew rapidly, due both to the continuing immigration, and those who would join through baptism. Soon a choir, orchestra, children’s ministry, Russian school, and regular youth meetings were established. At first glance, it seemed that everything was developing no worse than any other church. However, key ministers soon began to see a serious strategic problem, a solution to which they did not know.
Church tradition formed in the former Soviet Union, was natural for the older generation but was completely incomprehensible to those who grew up after immigration. The ministers saw how the church gradually lost its influence on the next generation. Some went to American churches, some joined pro-charismatic communities, and other just defended their independence within the church. So for the first three years no one leader was able to stick with the youth. Young people were more likely respond to an invitation to play volleyball or go to the mountains than to spend an hour with an open Bible. At some point, rebellion became an end in itself. Frustrated with strange traditions, and the conflicting statements from the pulpit, while under constant fire from skirmishes between the different church groups, young people, if not embittered at least lost interest in what their parents called faith. However, even at this stage there were people whose true love and involvement ignited these souls.
Ministers intuitively understood that holding people in church by participation in choir, orchestra and other activities does not have a long lasting effect. But on the other hand, what could be an alternative capable of changing the hearts of these people? Of course theoretically everyone acknowledged the importance of the Holy Scriptures and sermons, but in reality a mere handful of people was capable of bringing biblical truths to young people clearly, practically and with conviction.

After the construction of the new building came to a close at the end of 2005, it became evident to the brothers that the quantitative growth of the church will continue. This growth demanded a new and more effective approach towards ministry and church leadership. At this time Alexey suggested to the elder’s council to bring Vitaliy Rozhko on board as a candidate for the second pastor. In a year, in January of 2007, Vitaliy joined the church team, having become a blessing for the whole church as well as a reliable friend and helper for Alexey.
The general progress of forming in leadership allowed for the necessary time to produce structural changes. At the end of 2007 the Elder’s Council was converted into the Board of Elders. Special groups of qualified and trained brothers were prepared for leading every block of ministry. In 2008, when the number of members was above 600 persons, the small groups ministry was reorganized. In January of 2009 the council of pastoral care, whose aim is to coordinate the whole progress of spiritual growth in the church, progress in small groups, counseling, and church discipline.

Besides preaching and shepherding, one of the most important areas of ministry in the church is worship. Thanks to the emphasis on everyone’s growth in maturity, God allowed us to avoid the typical self-establishing and competing tendencies in the music world.
In the beginning Alexander Shkarovskiy was head of the worship ministry. In 2004, out of personal initiative, he gave the ministry to the more capable choir director – Pavel Antonyuk, continuing to faithfully help him. Nickolai Kolesnik played and especially important role for an extent of the next few years when He provided pastoral care for the whole department. Besides the leaders of the music ministry, soloists Nickolai Kolesnik, Elena Regeza, Olga Zavorotnaya, Elijah and Tatiana Yelchaninov, Inna Shkarovskiy, Peter Sklyarov and others played a special role in the growth of this area of church life. Their faithfulness and spirit of ministry allows a thousand believers to deeply and consciously to worship God with singing of great quality.

The church’s influence in the world became one of the many priorities at WGBC. From the very beginning of pastor Alexey’s ministry of the Word, his sermons were recorded and distributed within the limits of the church. Through some members, these sermons were passed on to friends and family outside of the church, making their way around the world and back to their native land. Soon after, the church website was launched, becoming a source of spiritual food for numerous hungry souls. In 2007, a live stream recording of the church service was broadcasted for the first time. After two years, websites such as: www.islovo.org containing audio and video recordings of sermons, www.slovostore.org an online store, www.blog.islovo.org the church’s blog, and www.slovoradio.org an internet-radio, were all launched. These resources became strong instruments that God has used to spread Biblical influence throughout the world.