It's all in our name!
Grace...we
are under grace--God's saving grace. We have all sinned (and
continue to do so) and can do nothing to earn God's favor or eternal
life. At Grace, we are a group of believers who live with the
knowledge that God, in His grace and mercy, sent His son, Jesus, to
suffer and die to pay the price for our sins; and then He rose again
from the dead. Because of this, our broken relationship with God
is restored and we can have eternal life. So, we live under
grace and pray that we demonstrate grace to each other in our
relationships.
Presbyterian...in
our system of government and our doctrine. Our church is not run
by a CEO; in fact, our pastor is only one of several elders (called
the session) who all lead and serve the congregation. The
session is accountable to the higher "courts" in the
Presbyterian Church in America. Not only do we believe this to
be the Biblical form of church government; but, we also see that it
offers very practical checks and balances.
We
hold dearly to our beliefs because the Bible teaches them.
Nevertheless, we say we are Presbyterian in doctrine because we trace
our system of beliefs back to those essentials which were rediscovered
during the Protestant Reformation and later presented in the Westminster
Confession of Faith.
Church...the
People of God...the Body of Christ. As the Bible teaches, the
church is like the human body. It is made of many parts but all
the parts work together for the mutual good of the person. All
the parts are essential and at Grace, we are committed to equip all
the members of the church to know and use their gifts and abilities in
ministry within the church. We believe, as the Bible
teaches, when one of our members
grieve, we all grieve and when one rejoices, we all rejoice.
