gccc

Mission

The mission of Grace Community is to be visible grace, God’s hope and healing, to each other, to our neighborhood, and to our world.

Core values

In order to accomplish our mission, the following values must characterize us, i.e., we must be…

Relational
God made himself visible and accessible to us by living with us in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 18). Just as Jesus showed us the Father’s glory by living a life of grace and truth, we want to be “visible grace”, God’s hope and healing, through our relationships with each other. Our common life is where we live out the Great Commandment to love God and to love each other. And our common life is the context for fulfilling the Great Commission to draw others to become followers of Jesus.

Inviting
God has accepted us in Christ with no strings attached (Romans 15:7). When we truly understand God’s love for us, we are able to extend that same nonjudgmental invitation to transforming grace to each other and to the world. We invite everyone to taste life in our community through relationship building events as a prelude to finding out more about God himself through other activities of our common life, such as Sunday worship or growth groups.

Celebrating
The common life of the people of God should reflect the joy of being in God’s presence (Philippians 4:4, cf. Psalm 16:11). Our understanding of God may be circumscribed by our experiences with our fathers: often insensitive, sometimes distant, perhaps even abusive. But when our spiritual life is formed by experiencing our loving Father, we can enter into wholeness and joy. Worship at Grace Community seeks to make the strong, loving Father God of the Bible visible and accessible, using all the artistic forms at our disposal. We present God’s story of love and renewal through Jesus Christ so that we can each find the context and significance for our own stories. And we rely on the Holy Spirit as the agent for God’s work in our lives.

Encouraging
One cannot be spiritually formed apart from participating in the common life of a spiritual community (Hebrews 10:24-25). Two sayings inform our life together. “When someone’s hurting, who knows?” – It is when we are vulnerable and asking for help that our deepest connections happen and we are able to receive healing. “No minimum requirements.” – God desires for everyone to experience his radical acceptance and outrageous generosity. Our various kinds of small groups (growth groups) are where we seek to provide places of safety and healing where people can grow spiritually.

Vision

If we accomplish our mission, we will be a church community that is…

  1. Energetically reaching out to unchurched Asian Americans. Goal: To have a majority of members who were not previously churched.

  2. Joyfully engaged in worship. "Goal: Every worshipper engaging in authentic worship through an intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior, resulting in lives that are filled with his presence."

  3. Deliberately intergenerational. "Goal: People of every age and station in life feel that they are integral to the community and can call Grace Community their home."

  4. Enthusiastically involved in mercy and justice. Goal: Involved in community development and transformation through partnerships with organizations and projects that are helping to realize the values of God’s Kingdom in our world, and having a signature project that is identified with Grace Community.

  5. Enthusiastically involved in global mission. Goal: Every member praying for someone’s salvation, able to share the Good News verbally, a majority of our regular attenders having participated in at least one short-term global mission assignment, and several who have made such an assignment their occupation. And involved in initiating and/or partnering in several church plants because we understand that churches need to multiply in order to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples.

  6. Radically committed to spiritual formation in community. Goal: A multiplying system of GROWth groups (small groups committed to growth through God’s Word, relationships, outreach and worship/prayer) that includes every member of Grace Community.