About Grace
We exist to ignite a passion in every person to glorify and enjoy God everywhere and in everything.
This page will give you a feel for who we are and the things we love to emphasize at Grace.
We love the Gospel.
We love to enjoy God.
We love Reformed theology.
We love the gospel
At the top of our list of priorities, and at the center of everything we do, is the Gospel. We love the Gospel. Why? Because of Jesus. We love to emphasize His perfect life, death, and resurrection. He lived the life that we could never live because we are sinners. He died the death that we all deserve because we are sinners. And because of this truth, we are accepted by God, we have forgiveness of sins, and never-ending life and joy with Him. Does it get better than that? Is there is any better news than that? We don’t think so. And that’s why you’ll hear us talk a lot about the Gospel.
We love to “rehearse the Gospel” at Grace. In our preaching and teaching, we emphasize the day-by-day, moment-by-moment transforming power of the Gospel message. We believe that Jesus died to bring sinners to God (1st Peter 3:18) and that we must proclaim this “good news” to the lost. But we also believe that the Gospel is for believers. It is the primary tool for spiritual transformation in the life of a disciple. We believe that we must preach the Gospel to ourselves every day.
What do we mean we say, “preach the Gospel to yourself?” We mean that every disciple needs to be reminded of God’s great love (Romans 5:8). We need to remember that we are not under God’s condemnation (Romans 8:1). We need to forgive others because God has forgiven us (Colossians 3:13). We need to preach these truths, the Gospel, to ourselves continually because often our hearts condemn us (1st John 3:19). But God is greater than our hearts and feelings!
We love to enjoy God
We believe that human beings were made in God’s image and that means we were made to enjoy fellowship with Him. We believe that the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #1 explains this accurately:
What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
And that’s why our mission statement states that we exist to ignite a passion in every person to glorify and enjoy God everywhere and in everything.
We believe that we display God’s glory most when we are enjoying Him more than anything in this life. We want to be a church that demonstrates that Jesus is our Treasure (Matthew 13:44). We want to be a church that can say wholeheartedly, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their wine and grain abound” (Psalm 4:7). We want to love the Triune God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
And because we love God so much, we want to see the good news of the Gospel spread both in our city and to the nations of the world. We believe that the big Story of the Bible is that God is saving sinners (like us!) from every tribe, nation, race and tongue for His glory (Revelation 5:9). Therefore, we want to be busy preaching the Gospel– to ourselves and to the nations. Why? Because the Gospel message puts the spotlight on Jesus- on His life, death, resurrection, and future return. The Gospel puts the focus squarely on Jesus and what He has done for us, and not on what we have or haven’t done for Him. And when Jesus is in the spotlight, He gets the glory! And that’s precisely why we exist; to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
We love reformed theology
Theologically, Grace is a graciously Reformed church. We are committed to the doctrines of grace that we believe are taught in Scripture and were recovered during the Reformation. The kind of preaching and teaching that you will hear at Grace is Reformed and stresses the authority of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, and addresses the depravity of humankind. We believe in preaching the entirety of the Gospel in a sound yet relevant fashion.
Some of our theological “influences” are dead theologians like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and many of the Puritans (e.g. John Owen, Thomas Watson, Richard, Baxter, etc). We also have been influenced by contemporary pastors and theologians like John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Tim Keller, Paul Tripp, and Wayne Grudem, to name a few. We also would link arms with ministries like The Gospel Coalition, 9 Marks, The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and Together for the Gospel.
While we love Reformed theology, we never want anyone to feel that they must embrace all of our beliefs to be a part of Grace. We love what we believe because we believe that it is taught in Scripture, therefore, you will hear Reformed theology taught at Grace. But we never want to “bully” anyone with our beliefs.
In non-essential doctrines and areas of preference (like end times/eschatology, old-Earth vs. young Earth, schooling choices, or style of worship) we emphasize humility and love. There is more agreement in some areas than in others, but mostly we want to encourage: humility, love for one another, a primary focus on the Gospel, and a realization that we are a family made up of different backgrounds, preferences, and convictions. What better atmosphere to learn and practice the love and humble service of Christ?
