Authentic Faith

At Grace Community, we’re focused on authentic faith, not being too concerned with the externals of religion. That means we act the same way Monday as we do on Sunday. Maybe that kind of authenticity appeals to you. We are committed to becoming people who are actively involved in worship, intimately connected in community and passionately engaged in God's mission. We are one church meeting in multiple locations, and we believe we have a unique ministry in East Texas. We invite you to be a part of that ministry.

Our Purpose & Values

Our purpose is to make dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ. We do that by following our values of Worship, Community, and Mission.

Worship - "Loving God More"

What a hard concept to define. Two passages guide our understanding of worship:

"Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." Psalm 29:1-2 (ESV)

David is saying that we are to ascribe to God glory. Why? Because it is due His name. So one aspect of worship is a response to who God is, simply because we are human, and He is God. The entire universe owes worship to God. 

But another passage brings it to a personal level. We read in Romans 12:1-2: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Paul spent the first 11 chapters of Romans telling us how we all have sinned against God. But out of God’s great mercy, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to be a sacrifice for us. When we trust in what God has done for us, and not what we try to do for him, we can live lives of worship that are pleasing to God. 

So, we see that worship is a response not just to who God is, but to what He has done for us personally. Let’s put these two elements together to form a definition: Worship: Loving God more.

This response takes many forms. It is the way I respond individually to God, in my personal prayer time, my study of the Bible, and my lifestyle. But it is also the way I respond as part of a community with others worshipping God. 

At Grace, this takes form as we gather weekly to respond to God together. Sunday services are not “church.” They are gatherings of people, who are the church, to worship in response to God. The service is a time when we gather in a place with a spirit of joy and celebration, balanced by the truth of what God has done for us, spoken to us in His word, and required of us by our actions toward other believers around us.

The best way to worship God is to let your entire life become a response to who God is and what He has done. You can do it when you stand with others at Grace Community Church, when you sit alone at your kitchen table with your Bible, and when you pray in the car. You can even do it when you’re making lunch.

Community - "Loving People More"

Community is where we grow in Christ, care for and serve one another, beyond what we could do on our own. This is because life change requires 3 crucial ingredients:

• Information: You have to know the truth. Some people stop here. These are people who assume knowledge equals change.
  
  
• Application: You have to apply the truth. This falls short as you are trying and failing on your own. With whom do you apply the truth? 
  
  
• Interaction: You have to do the truth with other people. People who will encourage you.  Who will correct you. Who will share their wisdom and experience with you. Who will pray for you. Who will be there for you.

This is why we focus on community, because we believe in loving people more, because life change happens best in small groups. That is why the model of Jesus for community was a small group. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach. (Mark 3:14)

Jesus spoke to crowds, but when he was trying to produce dedicated disciples, He gathered a small group to grow people in God’s grace. 

That is why the model of the early church for community was a small group, "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5:42

In the New Testament, the church met in small communities to minister to one another, use their gifts, and learn how to be dedicated disciples. That is why the model for us at Grace for community is the small group, where we can actually do the New Testament with each other. The cost of not doing community — of isolating ourselves and becoming Christian consumers and spiritual sideliners — is too high.

Mission - "Loving More People"

The great privilege of the church is to go on mission together. Mission is where we take the worship of God and community with each other, and share it with others. Listen to Jesus proclaim the mission in Acts 1, verse 8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 

We cannot be weak in our witness. Our mission is critical. We have a purpose statement— transforming people into dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ — but that is not our mission. It is an expression of our mission: sharing Christ with people who do not yet know Him. We gather for worship. We gather for community. Then we scatter to impact people eternally with the good news that they can be right with God. That’s why we define mission as loving more people.

We do mission because there are people who have not yet responded to God. We do mission because there are people who have not yet entered the community of Christ.

Jesus said we would be His witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. At Grace we will attempt to reach our Jerusalem (Tyler, Lindale and Athens) by engaging the people in our relationship networks with the message of Christ. We will use our multi-site strategy and partner with local ministries such as Celebrate Recovery, Habitat for Humanity, and Kairos Prison Ministry to reach our Judea and Samaria (East Texas and the United States). Finally, we will be proactive about raising up and supporting international missionaries to reach our world. 

So how does one align themselves with the value of mission at Grace?

Begin to pray for open doors for you to share your faith. Be willing to create friendships with those who don’t share our beliefs or standards. Live out your faith in such a way that you are connecting with people and being able to point them to a connection with God. Do it so they might come to know Christ as their savior.