O U R P U R P O S E
The purpose of Grace Church is to represent Jesus Christ to our world and to help people find and follow Him.
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J E S U S C H R I S T
We believe God desires to bring blessing to the world. We see in the Bible that God’s blessing brings life and abundance (Gen 1:28). We believe that having a relationship with Jesus is the greatest blessing in this world. It is in Him we find life, and life abundantly (John 10:10). The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Creator of the world (Gen 1, John 1:1-3), the Son of God (Luke 3:21-22), who lived a perfect life during His time on earth. We on the other hand are born into a broken world with a nature to sin. Because of this we have not lived a perfect life, and this results in a brokenness in our relationship with God and with others. Jesus ultimately gave His life so that those who place their faith in Him might be redeemed, restored, and forgiven (Col 1:13-14), so that we can be made right before God. Because of this, Jesus is deserving of all our worship, honor, and praise (Rev 4-5). Our desire to help people find, follow, and represent Jesus in our world is our response to who He is and what He has done for us.
F I N D
Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life - no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). As people find Jesus and come to faith in Him they are saved from the penalty of sin, and made right with God. They have moved from lost to found, death to life, darkness to light. We seek to help people find Jesus by introducing people to Him and His teachings. For those who have found Jesus, we believe the process of continuing to grow in our knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is will continue for the rest of our lives as we seek to follow and represent Him. Our hope for the people God brings to Grace Church is that they find the priceless treasure (Matt 13:44-46) we have found in Jesus leading them to give up all they have to follow Him.
F O L L O W
Jesus asked His disciples to follow him (Matt 4:18-22), and as we follow Him He transforms our lives. Jesus modeled loving God and loving people and He commands us to do the same (Mark 12:28-34). As we follow Jesus and seek to keep His commandments (John 14:15), the Holy Spirit works in us, turning us away from sin to a life that is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:16-23) as we cooperate with the Spirit. Jesus tells us that to follow Him we must lay down our life for Him (Matt 16:24-26, Luke 14:26-33) as He laid down His life for us. Laying down our lives for Jesus transforms us, giving us new life and purpose; to serve Him and represent Him to our world.
R E P R E S E N T
Jesus calls us to be His representatives, to be a witness for Him to the people of this world (Acts 1:8, 2 Cor 5:20). We do this by joining in His work of sharing blessing with the World, both by telling others of the teachings, life, death, resurrection and coming return of Jesus, and by living a holy, upright life loving one another as He loves us (John 13:34-35). As we are changed by Jesus we represent Him to the world, not as a self-righteous facade of perfection, but as the humble fruits of walking in His Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). Ultimately, at Grace Church we seek to represent Jesus to our world both as individuals and as a church body.
O U R W O R L D
We live in a broken world. This was not God’s original design but came into creation through sin (Gen 3). The darkness of sin can only be overcome by the Light of the World (John 1:1-9 & 8:12) who is Jesus, our Redeemer. God desires all people everywhere to hear of His love and grace, to seek and find the blessing of life found in Him (1 Tim 2:4). God is working around the world, and Grace Church is one part of the larger work God is doing (Matt 5:13-16). We believe that God has given each of us a sphere of influence - specific people He has placed around us that they might seek and find God through our witness in our world (Acts 17:22-29).
W E A I M T O D O T H I S
B Y:
- Loving and Abiding in Christ and His word to grow into the image of Christ. (John 15:1-8, John 8:31-32)
- Engaging in each others' lives to represent Christ through love and holiness to our world and to each other. (1 John 1:3, John 13:34-35, 1 Pet 1:14-16, Heb 10:24-25)
- Seeking to be a blessing to people and to help people find life in Christ. (1 Pet 2:9, 2 Cor 5:20)
- Teaching how to follow and represent Jesus with our whole lives. (Tit 2:1, Jam 1:21-22)
- Ministering through the gifts God has given each one. (Eph 4:11-26)
- Seeking to multiply followers of Christ through multiplying small groups, house churches and churches. (2 Tim 2:2, Acts 1:8)