Grace Community Church is a church that desires to lead believers to glorify God in all things. We are a church that is intentionally 'simple,' as we try to focus most on the things that are most important: preaching and teaching Scripture, celebrating the ordinances together, and discipling those who follow Christ. To that end, there are a few things that make Grace unique. These distinctives are affirmed by our leadership and they bring unity in our teaching and worship. For others who are still working through these doctrines, we exercise charity and patience in our convictions, while we encourage unity and discourage divisiveness in these matters.  

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Reformed Theology

 

       At its heart, Reformed theology confesses that God first makes us come to life (regeneration) in order that we may then follow Him in faith—He is the author and finisher of our faith. We spell out some of the specifics of our faith through five solas (sola meaning ‘only’) of our faith that are part of our Reformational heritage. These statements make specific claims about the gospel—specifically, claiming that the gospel is to the glory of God, and God alone (only).

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Sola Gratia

By grace alone—we are saved by God’s unconditional and undeserved grace alone. 

Sola Fide

Through faith alone—we are justified not by our works but by God’s grace working through faith alone. 

Solus Christus

In Christ alone—the Person and work of Jesus Christ alone is our source of salvation and justification, and our salvation is to His praise and glory alone. 

Sola Scriptura

By the authority of Scripture alone—Scripture alone is the inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church.

Soli Deo Gloria

To the glory of God alone—every aspect of our salvation, from start to finish, redounds to the eternal glory of God alone.

                        

Plural-Elder Leadership

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We are not a denominationally-affiliated church, so in that regard we are independent in our church governance. Within our church, we are governed by a group of elders who guide the church spiritually—a representative government, rather than democratic (congregational) or autocratic leadership. Following biblical standards, our elders are men who meet the biblical requirements for the spiritual oversight of the church body. Our elders are co-equal as overseers in the ministry, while one elder is set aside as an elder-pastor to oversee the main responsibilities of teaching and preaching. Our church is also served by deacons, who devote themselves to administrative and physical needs of the church under the leadership of the elders.

 

Expository Preaching

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We have a longstanding commitment at Grace toward expository/expositional preaching as the normative mode of preaching Scripture for our church. Expository preaching is essentially allowing the text to speak for itself—working carefully and systematically through Scripture, explaining the meaning of the text, and making application to our lives. We value and need God’s Word, and we believe expository preaching to be the best way to feed our people a robust, regular diet of Scripture. 

 

Family Ministry 

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We worship together at Grace as a church family, and we are a church family that is made up of many smaller individual families. We want to encourage multi-generational worship together as much as we are able, while also working to equip our individual families to continue discipleship in their homes throughout the week. Our church provides nursery service and our children's ministry (Graceland) for children up through 4th grade on Sunday mornings, yet we are also welcoming of children of any age in the main worship service (as each family's conscience leads). In all these efforts, we encourage our church family to worship and serve together as much as possible. 

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Christocentric Worship

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Worship is both a celebration of what God has done for us, an inspiration to those who participate, and instruction through the songs we sing and truths we confess. Our worship places an emphasis on congregational worship—we want to encourage our church to sing together as an act of worship to the Lord. 

We believe that the Christian life is one that shares our faith with those around us. To that end, we want to be involved in mission efforts both domestic and abroad, and we want to be actively involved in reaching the community around us. 

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