Grace Church
Monday, September 06, 2010
Connecting People to Christ and Each Other
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Grace 101
Connect Step One: Connect - Connecting with Grace Church is about helping you to understand who we are and helping you to decide if Grace Church is right for you.
About Grace Church
In October 2004, members of two dying churches met to see how they might come together as one church. The hope was to better serve our community.
They people decided to plant a new community of faith. This new church would be faithful to the unchanging message of the Bible, while finding new and creative ways of presenting Christ to an ever-changing world.
The result was the birth of Grace Church in June of 2005. Grace is a United Methodist church that blends both contemporary and traditional ideas together.
Values, Dreams, Purpose, Vision, and Foundation
The next couple of pages are the founding documents of our church. They communicate the kind of church we are trying to be and the kind of witness and mission we are trying to live out.
Grace Church’s Values
1. We value people having a living relationship with Jesus.
2. We value prayer.
3. We value being a blessing to our community.
4. We value helping Christians discover and use their gifts and talents.
5. We value people serving where they have passion.
6. We value the development of Christians into empowered leaders.
7. We value leadership that is an example of servanthood to the congregation.
8. We value having leadership that is willing to change.
9. We value having structures that enable, not hinder, ministry.
10. We value building a multi-generational congregation.
Grace Church’s Dreams
1. To be a missionary Methodist church.
2. To be a lighthouse to the nation.
3. To be known as a prayer center.
4. To be a “go to” congregation for other congregations.
Grace Church’s Purpose
“Connecting people to Christ and to each other.”
Grace Church’s Vision / Goal
“To be a church that is Spirit-led, scripture-based, and prayer-empowered that actively involves its people in worship, relationships, small groups, and service.”
Our Biblical Foundation
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
Mark 12:30-31 “[Jesus said] ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
THE GREAT COMMISSION
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Grace Church’s Purpose
“Connecting people to Christ and to each other.”
Our purpose is related to the Great Commandment which tells us to love God and love other people. This is as basic as it gets. The Great Commandment tells us exactly what God wants for us and expects from us.
Grace Church’s Vision / Goal
“To be a church that is Spirit-led, scripture-based, and prayer-empowered that actively involves its people in worship, small groups, and service.”
Our vision/goal is related to the Great Commission which tells us what every church is supposed to be doing. The church has been given the mission of making disciples; that is, helping people to make life-long commitments to living lives that are Spirit-led, Bible-based, and prayer-empowered, through worship, small groups, and service.
Simple Structure
In order to stay focused on our purpose and to complete our vision/goal, Grace Church has ordered its ministries and priorities around a very simple structure that can be summed up in the words: connect, involve, grow, and serve.
Explaining Our Structure
Grace Church has designed a set of four classes to help you understand our structure.
Classes One and Two – Classes One and Two have to do with our purpose: “Connecting people to Christ and to each other,” and the first part of our Biblical foundation, the Great Commandment: “[Jesus said] ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
Grace 101: Connect - Connecting with Grace Church is about helping you to understand who we are and helping you to decide if Grace Church is right for you.
Grace 201: Involve - Involving is about helping you to develop meaningful relationships at Grace Church.
Classes Three and Four – Classes Three and Four have to do with our vision/goal: “To be a church that is Spirit-led, scripture-based, and prayer- empowered that actively involves its people in worship, relationships, small groups, and service,” and the second part of our Biblical foundation, the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Grace 301: Grow - is about helping you to live out a life that is Spirit-led, Bible-based, and prayer-empowered, through worship, relationships, small groups, and service.
Grace 401: Serve - Jesus said “[He] came not to be served but to serve others." (Matthew 20:27). The goal or mission of Grace Church is to help you serve with Christ in the power of His Spirit.
Visually, this is what our structure looks like:
Grace Church’s Structure
Grace 101 (Connect) → Grace 201 (Involve) → Grace 301 (Grow) → Grace 401 (Serve)
Getting You Connected
Connected To Christ
1. Our highest priority is to help you have a living relationship with Jesus.
2. We believe Jesus is the living and Divine Son of God.
3. We believe that he died on the cross and rose from the dead to redeem our lives from sin, hopelessness, fear, despair, and egotism. We believe that he died on the cross and rose from the dead to redeem our lives for hope, purpose, healthy relationships, and for recognizing where God is at work in the world and joining him in that work.
4. We believe this gift was secured for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
5. This gift is received the moment we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins and ask Him to be Lord of our lives and to fill our lives with His Spirit.
6. This gift is an enormous gift; one that will take the rest of your life to learn about and to fully appreciate.
7. Have you received this gift from God?
Connected To Others
Having taken time to learn more about Grace Church, you have several options:
1. You may decide that Grace is the right church for you and that you would like to become a member. If so, you will be given the opportunity to indicate that in a few minutes.
2. You may decide that Grace is the right church for you, but at this time you are not ready to make a commitment to membership. If so, take all the time you need. You may continue to participate in the life and ministry of Grace Church without becoming a member. If later you are ready to make a commitment to membership, let a pastor or lay leader know, and we will help you take the necessary steps. Until then, we will refer to you as a “friend of Grace.”
3. You may decide that Grace is not the right church for you. If so, please know that we respect your decision and will be here for you if you change your mind.
Becoming a Member
1. Those seeking membership are required to profess their faith in Christ.
Have you placed your faith in Jesus and accepted His gift of salvation? If not, this is the first step.
2. Are you baptized?
If so, good – you will not need to be re-baptized. If not, we will need to talk about your being baptized.
3. Are you transferring your membership from another church?
If so, and if you will allow us to, we will gladly send a letter to the other church indicating the transfer of your membership.
4. Membership comes with no benefits. It does come with extra responsibilities. Membership in the Church means you are identifying with Jesus and committing yourself to His mission to make the Kingdom of God a reality in our world.
5. Our structure of connect, involve, grow, and serve is not the only possible model a church might follow, but it is the model we follow. Committing yourself to Grace Church means understanding and committing to being a part of our model of ministry.
Committing yourself to Grace Church begins with taking all four Grace classes (This is only about a four hour commitment) and trying to live them out. You will need to attend all four Grace Classes before taking membership vows.
6. Those seeking membership will be asked to take the following vow:
“Will you be loyal to Grace United Methodist Church and uphold it by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness?”
Before taking this vow, please pray about what the words mean and how this vow will be lived out in your life.
7. Finally, you should know, Grace is a United Methodist Church, and while we try to keep to the basics all Christians can agree on, we do have some Methodist distinctions. You should know about them before joining Grace Church.
Methodist Distinctions
1. Methodist congregations are not independent churches, and our relationship to other Methodist churches is not by voluntary association. Methodist churches are connectional churches. That means we work in close cooperation with Methodist churches all across the world. It also means we are accountable to our District (the Paducah District), our Conference (the Memphis Conference), and to the General Church (the United Methodist Church).
2. We do not re-baptize. Baptism is primarily about what God does for us not what we do for God. When a person who joins our church has been previously baptized in another church, we assume that God got it right the first time, and we do not repeat their baptism.
Children who have been baptized do not need to be re-baptized after they come to accept Christ for themselves. They need instruction in how to live the faith and need to make a public moment for making a profession of faith.
Adults rededicating their lives do not need to be re-baptized. They need help in making a deeper, more meaningful commitment to Christ.
3. We have an open Communion Table. As the sermon is a verbal presentation of the Gospel, Communion is a visible presentation of the Gospel. Communion is the holiest moment of worship and we believe all people, including small children, can come to know Christ at his table.
4. Women play an equal role in the Methodist church. The Old Testament book of Genesis tells us that humankind – male and female - was created in the image of God. Only after sin entered the world did there become a disruption in the relationship between men and women. In Jesus, God is restoring all things, including the relationship between men and women. In the New Testament, distinctions of privilege and authority are no longer made on the basis of sex, race, or social order (see Galatians 3:28). MORE
5. Methodism is an ecumenical tradition. That means we draw from the best in all Christian traditions. In our worship services you may see elements from Roman Catholicism, the Baptist church, the Charismatic movement, or many other Christian traditions. As long as it is biblical, we believe God is honored by the various expressions of Christianity.
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