What We Believe

The Bible

We believe the Bible, made up of the Old and New Testaments, was inspired by God and, in the original writings, is without error. We believe the Bible was written by God through several chosen people and therefore speaks with the authority of God while reflecting the backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies of its human authors. The Bible is the unique and final authority on all matters of Christian faith and practice and therefore, every individual follower of Christ bears the responsibility of knowing and studying God’s word on their own as well as with a community of believers.

God

We believe in one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This concept is known as the Trinity.

The Father

We believe that the Father, who is the first individual person of the Trinity, is the creator, law-giver and protector. He has a plan for individuals and humanity at large, known as His Will. He is also called Father because of the Father-Son relationship revealed in Jesus.

The Son

We believe that the son, Jesus Christ, gave up his privileges as God to become human and live on earth over 2000 years ago. He lived a perfect, sinless life giving us our example for living. Because he was without sin, he did not deserve to die. But, as an act of love and grace, he offered up his life in exchange for ours. He took on the payment of our sin. After three days, he was raised from the dead, returned to heaven and now serves as the only mediator between a perfect God and imperfect people.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the role of the Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity, is first to bring conviction to a person’s heart of their need for God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Second, the Holy Spirit guides, instructs and gives supernatural gifts to followers of Jesus for godly living, acts of service and spiritual unity with other believers.

People

We believe that people were created in the image of God and designed to be in a loving, intimate relationship with Him. However, all people, either actively or passively, have chosen to control their own lives and live independent from God. This is what the Bible calls sin. The effects of this break in our relationship with God, such as loneliness, unhealthy behaviors, selfishness and lack of love, can be reversed if we accept God’s gift of salvation in Jesus and allow Him to define and direct our life. The gift of salvation is simply that; a gift. There is nothing we can do to earn it and each of us can access it equally, no matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done. God loves us all and wants to be reunited with us.

The Church

The Bible instructs followers of Jesus to gather together on a regular basis to worship, pray, receive teaching from God’s Word, reach out to help others, use our gifts, encourage and build each other up and to participate in communion and baptism. Wherever God’s people meet to fulfill all these instructions, there is a local expression of the body of Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is the head of His Church and that each local church chooses leaders, called elders and pastors, to make decisions for their specific congregation. Grace Church has several distinctive practices including our unique expression of baptism by triune immersion (link to “What is Triune Immersion?) and threefold communion (link to “What is Threefold Communion?”).

Spiritual Growth

We believe that spiritual growth is a natural result of a close relationship with God and results in spiritual transformation, personal growth and positive life change as we become more like Christ. However, this requires our ongoing willingness and intentionality in the practices of Christian living. “Know it, Live it, Give it Away” is simply Grace Church’s challenge for each of us know the Bible for ourselves, live in biblical community with others who are pursuing Christ-likeness and to offer our lives and resources to help others connect with God.

Statement of Faith

Find out more details about our beliefs in our Statement of Faith