CORE VALUES / BELIEFS
VISION
Our vision is to SHARE God's love by ELEVATING community; to SEE lives changed.
MISSION
Our mission is to CONNECT with those far from God, to FORM them into fully devoted followers of Christ, and ENGAGE them in mission to a needy world.
Core Values express those convictions and practices rooted in the Word of God that we cherish most as a church. While we do not list every value we cherish, we do present five that are of paramount importance to the community life of Grace.
CORE VALUES
Put God
First
Champion Family
Build Community
Reach Beyond Our Walls
Live a Life of Worship
God’s grace through Jesus Christ is our bedrock and power supply for our salvation, our life in Christ and our ministry, both individually and as churches (2 Corinthians 9:8). God’s grace leads to works and results in fruit in people’s lives (Ephesians 2:8-10). We believe in a balance between God’s grace and man’s responsibility. We believe the Bible teaches both the sovereign grace of God and the solemn responsibility of man to trust, obey and serve God (Philippians 2:12-13).
God has commissioned and established the local church as His primary means of fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission – loving God and others by winning people to Christ, building them to maturity, and raising up leaders to then lead others towards a growing relationship with Christ. We seek to do this within the context of our Impact Groups. We believe that our Impact Groups are where true community happens within the larger context of Grace Community Church. (1 Timothy 3:15; Acts 2:46)
We desire for everyone to live their life in a constant state of worship and obedience to God. We desire that everyone would act the way they are on Sunday, throughout the rest of the week. Every weekend, we want to do this by mobilizing every member to be part of God’s work-recognizing the church, like a living organism, needs all its parts actively working for the whole body to be healthy. We encourage all to participate in ministry according to the gifts, abilities and direction God has given each. (Ephesians 4:11-16); (1 Corinthians 12:4-7); (1 Peter 4:10-11)
We seek to extend ourselves to those around us who do not yet know Christ. Realizing God’s love for lost people, we make ourselves available to love them, serve them, and win them. Christ challenges us to proclaim to the world the life-giving message of His death for men’s sins. We seek for ways to impart that message to our friends, our community, and people around the world. (Matthew 28:19-20); (2 Corinthians 5:20); (Colossians 1:28)
We seek to affirm, strengthen, and empower families, that they might realize all the potential of God’s wonderful and unique design for them. Called to be light in a world where family failure has become the norm, we strive to apply God’s principles to family life, offer models of strong happy marriages & families, and provide an environment that fosters love, unity, order & joy in the families in our midst. Ephesians 5:21-25; Malachi 4:5-6; Ephesians 6:4
These statements serve two purposes: they make us stronger in our faith and they protect us from error. We should understand these statements thoroughly along with the verses that accompany them, and also understand that these are merely summaries; much more discovery awaits the Christian who seeks to know God deeper.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The sole basis of our beliefs is the Bible, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. It was uniquely, verbally, and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and was written without error in the original manuscript. It is the supreme and final authority in faith and life in every age. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:150,160,12:6)
God created man in His own image, and man as he was originally created, was innocent before God. But man chose to sin by disobeying God, and therefore was alienated from his Creator and came under divine condemnation. Thus all human beings are born with a corrupted nature and without spiritual life, and are totally incapable of pleasing God in and of themselves. (Genesis1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1,2)
Men and women are freed from the penalty for their sins not as a result, in whole or in part, of their own works, goodness, or religious ceremony, but by the undeserved favor of God alone. God declares righteous all who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5)
At physical death, the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his or her body to everlasting glory and blessing. At physical death, the unbeliever enters into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his or her body to everlasting suffering, judgement, and condemnation. (John 5:28-29; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15)
All true believers make up the church worldwide and should assemble together in local churches for worship, prayer, fellowship, and teaching, in order to become conformed to the image of Christ and to become equipped to carry out the Great Commission that Christ gave His followers in Matthew 28:19-20. (see also Acts 2:42-47)
There is but one God, infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and love, Creator of the universe, eternally existing in three person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each of whom possesses all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality. (Genesis1:1, 26,27,3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
God the Father, by His own choice and out of love for sinful men and women, sent Jesus Christ in to the world to reconcile sinners to Himself. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He was God in the flesh, both true God and true man. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and voluntarily suffered and died as our substitute to pay the penalty for our sins, thus satisfying God’s justice and accomplishing salvation for all those who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He bodily ascended in to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, makes intercession for His own. He will return to earth personally, visibly, and bodily to judge all men and establish His kingdom. (Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14,15; Titus 2:13)
All who are born again of the Spirit can be fully assured of their eternal life from the very moment they put their faith in Christ. This assurance is not based on any kind of human merit, but upon the fact of God’s election, upon Christ’s complete payment for our sins, and upon the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. (John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5)
Jesus Christ has instructed those who believe in Him to be baptized in water as a symbol of their new birth Christ. Baptism is only for those who have personally believed in Christ. Our practice is to baptize by immersion. The Lord also instituted the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of His suffering, death, and resurrection. Neither baptism nor the Lord’s Supper has any merit in helping a person obtain eternal life. (Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-30)
God created marriage (Gen. 2:22). It is a covenant made between a biologically born man and woman that makes them one (Gen 2:24). The marriage covenant requires the married parties to be faithful, loving, and helpful to each other as long as they both shall live (Mark 10:3-10). Christians are not to marry unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-18). Those whom God has directed to be joined together shall, after counseling with the pastor concerning what God requires of them, be joined in Christian marriage (Malachi 2:13-16; Matthew 5:32; 19:5-6,9; Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, 15; 2 Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 5:22-23).
