Our Mission:
Our Vision: We want to be a church where spiritual growth leads to missional living.
We define spiritual growth as a growing relationship with God where our response to His love and grace is changing us to look and love more like Jesus and missional living as seeing ourselves as ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom sent to speak for and represent Jesus in our everyday lives.
We want to be the kind of church that helps believers to grow deep in their relationship with Jesus and non-believers to explore what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. Grace Community Church is not a building but a community. We are a community from all different backgrounds who have experienced radical grace and new life in Jesus Christ and love walking alongside those who are still checking things out.
As followers of Jesus, we both 'gather' and we 'go.' We gather to worship, study the scriptures, and help and support one another but we also go out into our communities, schools, workplaces, and the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We are a community that has forever been changed by ‘good news’ and therefore we want to both embody and share that good news with others.
Here is what we think that looks like for our church:
+Cultivate a church community where people exhibit and experience genuine Biblical love: We want our church to be a welcoming, supportive and encouraging community where believers genuinely feel cared for and helped in their relationship with Jesus (Rom 15:7; Jn.13:34-35). We want to continue developing a church culture where people serve joyfully, love faithfully, welcome gladly, pursue diligently, and listen humbly (Rom. 12:9-13). We commit to pursuing peace and reconciliation with humility, gentleness, and repentance, even when it is costly to us (Matt.18:15-35, Rom 12:14-21). We desire to be a humble people that excel in listening well to others and learning to ask questions to get to know others and better understand their story (Phil. 2:3-4; Proverbs 18:2,13,17; I Cor. 1:26-30). We refuse to let political and ethnic differences keep us from building bridges with one another (Phil. 2:1-2). As the beloved people of God, we will love one another by choosing to believe the best about others and engaging them in God-honoring ways, which communicate grace and truth even when we disagree (Titus 3:1-2; James 3:13-18; I Peter 3:15; Col. 4:6; I Cor. 13).
+Raise up hundreds of everyday missionaries: We want all believers within our church to begin to see themselves as ambassadors of Christ who represent and speak on behalf of their King (II Cor. 5:16-20). We are not trying to add a mission component to our lives; our lives exist for the mission (Acts 1:8; Mt. 28:18-20; I Peter 2:9; Jn.17:16-18; Jn. 20:21). Because Jesus called us to let our light shine before men that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven, our faith will be a public faith (Mt.5:16; Eph. 2:10; I Peter 2:12). We want to love and serve all our neighbors in the places where we live, work, and play. We want to learn how to winsomely engage nonbelievers with the unchanging truth of the gospel (I Cor. 9:19-23), and welcome all people into our gatherings, groups, homes, and lives (I Cor. 5:9-13; Mt. 11:19). We want to develop the kind of church culture that helps believers to think deeply about Christ and non-believers to discover what it means to follow Him. We desire God's global heart to awaken our heart for all the peoples of the earth especially the unreached (Ps. 67; Ps. 86:9; I Chron.16:24; Rev. 5:9; Rev. 7:9). We will aspire to live lives of mercy and justice especially towards the poor, orphan, vulnerable, and marginalized (Micah 6:8; Is. 1:17; Is.58:6-10, Prov.3:27-28; Zech.7:8-10; Lk.14:13-14; James 1:27).
+Build a church for the next generation: We want our church to be an inter-generational community where relationships are fostered across age differences. Our desire is to see young and old alike investing in the well-being and discipleship of the other, with the older generation reaching out with friendship and mentorship and the younger generation rising to embrace “ownership” of the mission (Titus 2:2-8). An essential component of our calling is to see the good deposit of the gospel successfully handed down to the next generation (2 Tim 1:14), and to equip and cheer on the next generation to take possession of that stewardship well (2 Tim. 2:2). We will leverage resources and relationships to reach, equip, and empower the next generation to take up this gospel mission and make their lives count for that which matters most. We want to listen well and empower young people with a seat at the table in a way that communicates that they are not simply “the future of the church;” they are the “now” of the church (1 Tim. 4:12), and speak and act in a way that is accessible to them. As a fruit of this commitment, we desire to see more young people getting connected, serving, and being equipped and empowered to lead (Eph. 4:11-16).
+Develop and implement an intentional discipleship & leadership pipeline. We will craft and implement a comprehensive all church discipleship/leadership pipeline. This pipeline will be designed to meet people where they are in their faith but move them towards becoming devoted disciples who make disciples (Col.1:28-29; Mt. 28:18-20). It will also serve as a pipeline for identifying leaders who can be further equipped to lead others (II Tim. 2:2). We will offer classes, forums, groups, video training, and retreats/conferences with the aim of helping every person to move forward in being equipped so they can make their unique God-given contribution to the advancement of the gospel through this church (Rom. 12:4-8; I Pet. 4:10-11). We will invest significantly in high school students and college-age adults (I Thess. 2:8).
Our Values:
