Our Values
7 Core Values
We value SOULS. The Scripture teaches that every person, past-present-future, has a soul. Our souls are the part of us that will live forever. Our bodies will be returned to the earth, but our souls have eternal life. Every soul needs a spiritual birth-to be born again.
We were all born the first time by natural birth from our mothers, but each person needs to be born again by a spiritual birth. That spiritual life begins when we repent of our sins and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Repentance and confession are paramount to serving God. We must make Him the Lord of our lives and accept the great sacrifice He made on Calvary when He died to free us from the bondage of sin. When we ask Jesus Christ to save us, to enter our hearts and to rule and reign, we begin our spiritual life.
At Grace Church we value every soul on this continent and beyond-every race, every nationality, and each gender. Our church is a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled, multi-cultural church, and we want everyone to be saved, so we place supreme value on every soul.
EveryONE matters to God. In the 15th chapter of Luke, Jesus teaches the value of the one using three different parables-the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
Jesus said in Luke 15:10, "...there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
We are reaching for and celebrating the one-when we gather together, connect with one another, and serve our community. In our services we regularly give a call for the ones who need repentance, we offer a connect group (Starting Point) for the ones who have recently accepted Christ, and the aim of our local serve projects is to be a blessing to the ones in need.
We are a family ministering to families. It is the culture of church leadership that we are family, and we do life together. When one hurts, we all hurt. When one wins, we all win! We often say, "The anointing on all of us is greater than the anointing on any one of us."
A connected family is a strong family, and it is our desire to see every member of your family connected to a ministry inside the church. Our kids and youth ministries are committed to reaching your children on their level, and there are many connect groups available to help see that couples grow not only closer to God but also closer to one another. In addition, we have amazing men's and women's connect groups that help connect you to other parents who are a part of the church.
We are a family of believers growing together in Christ, and we are committed to helping you see your family grow together in their faith and love for God!
The Bible speaks clearly that people perish for a lack of knowledge. We work diligently to never allow that statement to have credence at Grace Church. From the youngest child able to understand teaching to the eldest adult, we strive to see the Word of God disseminated, studied, and learned by everyone.
1 Peter 3:15 NLT -"Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And, if someone asks you about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."
We want all members of Grace Church to be knowledgeable about their faith and to be able to teach the gospel to unbelievers. By fulfilling Scripture that teaches us to "make disciples" and to "teach them" the ways of God, we reach for our value of edification and discipleship through Bible--based teaching. It is our focus in every gathering to spend time discipling God's people. In addition, our discipleship connect groups provide amazing opportunities for our members to grow in their faith.
It is clear in the scripture that discipleship is a continual process, and living a disciplined life is the evidence of true discipleship, which requires time, commitment, and involvement, but we know healthy people help people.
We are a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church. We value the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), which unify the body of Christ. And, we recognize the baptism of the Holy Spirit as found in Acts 19:6, "And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied."
While salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, from scripture it is clear there are greater depths to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Later in the scripture, the believers, who were gathered together in Jerusalem, received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
As a member of Grace Church, you can expect to hear teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit in your lives. We do recognize the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a gift, and from scripture there are many gifts of the Spirit. There is power for the life of the believer through practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to fill and lead our church is of utmost importance.
Serving others is a Kingdom principle, and service to Grace Church is vital to the spiritual health of any member. Throughout His ministry, Jesus not only taught the value of serving, but He was the ultimate example of serving. In fact, Matthew 20:28 says that Christ, came to serve, not to be served.
We value service, and we not only encourage, but we expect members to serve on a ministry serve team and/or be a part of our regular missions serve teams.
"Servant-leadership" is a part of our culture, which is the model Christ exemplified. To become involved in the leadership of Grace Church, you must be willing to serve first.
Romans 15:1-2 MSG -"...Strength is for service not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?"
We believe generosity changes everything. Generosity is one of our core values because we know that it is one of God's core values. The deep love of God produced a gerneosiry that cannot be repaid individually or collectively. Any of us or all of us together cannot repay God's generosity. When God's love was distilled, He gave. For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life [John 3:16 NKJV]. Since God is our model, we value generosity to our core.
The scriptures teach us that God loves a cheerful giver [2 Corinthians 9:7]. From the beginning and throughout the entire biblical text, God's Word teaches the power of giving. At Grace we believe generous giving is a vital key to living the blessed life. Our giving should include our time, our minds and our resources.
Time – We should be generous with our time by pouring what God has lavishly give to us into people we meet and live with. Our multiple volunteer opportunities at Grace allow a great outlet for generosity giving your time.
Minds – We should generously share the knowledge that God has give to us with people who know little about following Christ. We are taught in scripture that we should have the "mind of Christ," so we should think as He thought and give as He gave. This changes us from our former values to the core values of Jesus
Resources – We should be generous with our resources. God has richly blessed to generously bless others and to establish His kingdom in the earth. By paying our tithe and giving our offerings we set ourselves in covenant with God to receive His best … which helps us generously give our best.
Deuteronomy 8:18 NLT
"Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath."
Malachi 3:10 NKJV
"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you
such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
Luke 6:38 NLT
"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine
the amount you get back."
