Beliefs & Values

 

OUR BELIEFS

At Grace Community Church, we want to base EVERYTHING we believe on the Bible. As such, we believe... 

The bible is true. 

We believe that the Bible is the written Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is our infallible and divine authority in all matters of faith and life.

God is real.

We believe in one God eternally existing as one essence and three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, each of whom is fully God, yet there is one God.

god created man in his own image.

Humanity was created by God – in his image – to be in relationship with him. As such, every person on the face of the earth is of great value, possesses great dignity, and is worthy of great respect. All humans were created to reveal God's image on earth. 

man sinned.

Adam and Eve, the first humans, sinned in the Garden and fell from their original righteousness and communion with God and became dead in sin – wholly defiled in soul and body. This sin affected all of creation - including us.

Jesus christ came.

We believe that Jesus Christ, as the eternal Son of God, became man, lived the perfect life we couldn’t live, died on the cross to pay the punishment our sin deserves, then rose again to conquer death.

salvation is through faith alone, by grace alone.

There is absolutely nothing we can do to restore our relationship with God. No amount of work, effort, or good intentions can mend the mess we’ve made. Salvation can only come through Jesus. Consequently, it’s a free gift. Faith is the act of receiving this free gift, trusting that God reaches out in sovereign grace and draws us back into relationship through his Son. Why? Simply because he loves us.

These are the majors. To get more specifics of what we believe, check out the following links:

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA (PCA) 
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH

OUR CORE VALUES

BELIEVING THAT WORSHIP IS EVERYTHING

Worship is NOT something we only engage on in Sunday mornings for an hour or something done in a specific building, at a particular time. The writer of Hebrews tells us “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.” (13:15). Children of God are called to engage in Worship in “spirit and truth,” which involves going before the Throne of God with right thoughts and warm affection for who God is and what He has done. Because of what Jesus accomplished on our behalf, we have great confidence that we are invited before this Throne by The One who first loved us and continually fights for us.

DESIRING FELLOWSHIP OVER ISOLATION

The Apostle Paul and John tell us that God has called us into Fellowship with the Father and the Son, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That Fellowship changes us and the ultimate overflow of that heavenly reality is that we would enjoy fellowship with “one another.” The enemy loves to draw us into isolation because that is where he does his best work, whispering into our hearts his many untruths. Instead, God’s children are called to a Life where we “serve one another,” “love one another,” “encourage on another,”….and many more “one another’s,” but this can only be done within community as we Fellowship together.

EMBRACING GRACE AND TRUTH FOR GROWTH & OUTREACH

Growth in Christ and embracing a lifestyle of Outreach is NOT optional for the Believer and it is NOT accomplished with hard work or great discipline. Instead, the Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:12-13 with these words, “ 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” The key to living out verse 12 is found in verse 13. It is ALWAYS God and His grace that works in us in such a way that we actually desire to engage in growth and good works.

DELIGHTING IN GOD’S LOVE AND THEN OFFERING OUR LOVE FOR GOD & OTHERS

The Core Message of the Gospel is that God pursues us, because He loves us. This is not because we are deserving of that love, but rather because He simply purposed to love the unlovable. Our response to this great love should be to bathe in it often and then again and again; We cannot remind ourselves of His great love for us too much. Then, as a result of what He abundantly showers us with, we are to in turn love Him back and our neighbor as well. 1 John 4 encourages us with these incredible words…..Delight in them! “ 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God
and knows God….. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”