Grace Community Church--Rhythms of Life

celebrating the character of God corporately
passionately living with Jesus in community
cultivating the kingdom of God glocally

Rhythms of Life at Grace

We are about one thing and one thing only; the glory of God.  Isaiah 26:8 says Your Name and renown are the desire of our hearts. That's us.  God is in the business of glorifying himself. His glory drives everything he does. God says of himself inIsaiah 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.  Because God's glory is so important to him it's important to us.

Psalm 115:1 says Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory.  We believe that if we can do three things, celebrate the character of God, passionately walk with Jesus, and build God's kingdom, and do them well, the fame and glory of God's name will spread. This means that life at Grace has a certain rhythm to it. It's the rhythm of gathering and scattering. Gather to celebrate and love God. Scatter to be on mission and love people.

Celebrating the Character of God Corporately
This is what we want to do when Christians gather on Sunday morning; celebrate God's character. Sunday morning is about the Transcendence of God--God's otherness (Isaiah 57:15). We desire to gather and celebrate who he is and what he's done for us through Jesus Christ. We want to hear stories of how God is working, how he's changing lives throughout the week. We're not really interested putting on a good show--God is not something to be consumed. We want to do just the opposite. We just want people to see how great God is. Only when we see ourselves in light of who he is and what he's done for us through Christ crucified will there be lasting, transformational change.

Passionately Living with Jesus in Community
Although Sunday morning is incredibly important, it's not everything. In fact, Sunday morning must be balanced with another aspect of God's character--his Immanence. God's immanence is his desire to be with us and identify with us (Jeremiah 23:23-24). God models this with the Incarnation--God made flesh in the person of Christ. As followers of Christ we are commanded to live incarnate lives like Jesus and so we
scatter during the week to be on mission with our Master.
This means living in community with Jesus and with other Christians. Living as part of a small, witnessing community is essential for vital Christianity.

Cultivating the Kingdom of God Glocally

We believe Christians spend far too much time on churchy things that have little or no connection to the incarnational mission of the church. Often times rigid, inflexible church structures and programs keep incarnational ministry from happening. We think most, if not all, of the ministries of the church flow should flow from small witnessing communities committed to reaching their own backyards for Christ. Jesus invites us on a kingdom building mission. These witnessing communities are essentially church plants on a small scale, micro church plants. They are entrusted with the task of permeating and creating culture by bringing the good news of Christ to people where they are. We believe the kingdom of God is cultivated one person, one family, one neighborhood at a time.