At Grace Bible Church we are called to become disciples and make disciples of Jesus Christ by connecting to God, one another, and the world. As a church, we are following this call in specific ways. Below are some various descriptions of GBC that might help show the DNA of who we are and are striving to be:
Leadership: Elder-Led Congregation
We believe the Bible teaches that Christ’s church is to be led by a group of called out and qualified men who are all equal in authority. While some elders have a greater measure of gifting to feed, and others have a greater measure of gifting to lead, each elder shepherds God’s people. When it comes to future leadership, we seek to raise up men from within our church family to be future elders rather than hiring from outside the church. One way GBC elders shepherd God’s people is through what we call “shepherds visits”: an informal time when elders meet with members — usually in their home — to hear their needs and struggles, to provide encouragement and counsel and to pray together.
Size: Growing towards planting
The Bible doesn’t tell us what size a church should be; there is no perfect number. There are some large churches biblically seeking to make disciples just as there are some small churches biblically seeking to make disciples. Given our current location, our ministry philosophy, and our desire to eventually plant churches, we would feel led to plant another church should we reach the size of 400-500 members. We value this mid-range size because we’ve seen it allows elders to shepherd appropriately without becoming spread too thin, and it encourages God’s people to remain actively involved in each other’s lives.
Doing Ministry: Members of one body
We believe all church members should be involved in the discipleship process of the church. We believe God has ordered and designed the church to build one another up, to serve one another, to love one another, and to disciple one another. This ministry can happen when the church collectively gathers or schedules church-wide ministry opportunities. We also believe that this kind of ministry engagement should be happening throughout the week as God’s Spirit organically leads His people. To encourage organic Spirit-led ministry by small groups or individual members, we work hard at not busying the calendar with corporate activities and programs.
Ministry of the Word: Connecting God’s Word to everyone
Discipleship happens through the ministry of the Word. While God-ordained ministry of the Word happens throughout the week, the preaching of God’s Word every Sunday is the primary way the church is discipled. We believe that true preaching of God’s word should be expositional (i.e. exposing what the inspired authors intended to say); this doesn’t mean tedious word-for-word academic study, but rightly dividing the flow of thought to communicate the author’s main point for true application. Throughout the week, the ministry of the word continues as God’s people engage in one-on-one discipleship, counseling, small group discussion of sermons, children’s Sunday School hour, and adult Bible classes.
Ministry of Music: Exalting Christ together
We believe that true corporate worship happens when God’s people exalt their risen Savior together. To ensure that our worship is true to the content of Scripture, we carefully select songs that emphasize our collective response to God’s holiness, our need for Him, and the grace we have received through Jesus Christ. Our corporate worship time is guided by a team of musically gifted singers and instrumentalists. We seek to minister to every member in the body by connecting together with our God, so you will find our music style is a purposeful blend of contemporary and traditional.