Grace
Noun. An undeserved gift paid for entirely by the giver and given, not on the basis of the receiver’s ability, character, background, race, religion, or gender, but entirely because of the love and kindness of the giver. Antonyms: reward, prize, payment
Beliefs as a Congregation
Grace believes in one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit- who is Holy, Righteous and Loving.
Grace believes that humans were made in God’s image to worship God by enjoying Him forever; but humans rejected God, falling far from that purpose and marring that image.
Grace believes the Bible as God’s truthful, authoritative Word written, sharing from beginning to end the story of God’s purpose to redeem self-centered humanity through the promised Savior, Jesus Christ.
Grace believes the Gospel - that God the Son became man to live the sinless life no fallen human could, and as a substitute die as a perfect sacrifice, to pay the penalty for the sins of all those who by grace through faith are saved by God. After 3 days, Jesus rose from the dead and 40 days later ascended into heaven. In all this, God was Holy- fully Righteous and yet fully Loving.
Grace believes the visible Church is the household of faithful followers of Jesus Christ, who have been given the promised Holy Spirit by God, to be ambassadors to His world. Two Gospel sacraments - Baptism and Communion - are outward, physical signs of inner, spiritual grace, ordained by Jesus as signs and seals of the New Covenant.
Grace looks forward to this same Jesus, coming again in glory to judge all humanity and begin a new world with a kingdom where there will be no sin, no death, no sorrow, but life eternal where God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit -will be worshiped by peoples of every language and ethnicity and all of creation. And He shall reign forever and ever. Amen.
Grace’s Values
Participation over Production - we want to see more people actively involved in worship that is rich in the Bible (see above, and Colossians 3:16). So we read the Bible together, we sing Scripture-soaked songs that are simple to sing together, we pray Biblical-based prayers we can follow and pray together, and we remember Jesus Christ in the way that He purposed, in the Lord’s Supper, sharing the bread and cup together.
Teaching God’s Word over Speaking on People’s Interests - not preaching at people from the Bible, but reading lots of Bible to people and doings lots to help people understand..the hard passages, the passages we think we all get, the challenging passages. We’ll let others handle political points, life hacks and how-to talks. We want to see the Word of God do the work of God in the people of God for the glory of God.
Historic over Hip - We aren’t Amish, and in fact we use technology quite a bit. But…we think that our forefathers in the faith have so much more to offer us by their examples of living, their sermons and songs, their sacrifices. We refuse to replace enduring with “edgy”, classic with ”cool”, or Reformational with “real.” (Doesn’t this world need what is enduring, classic and transformational?). We believe that what others have discarded as rubbish should be dusted off as riches.