Our mission is to reach and connect people to a growing life in Christ — equipping them to be bridge builders to our community and world. To work out our mission at Grace Fellowship, we participate in and help make happen three main environments:
People Connecting to God
This involves our weekend worship gatherings that are engaging, relevant, and biblically challenging.
People Connecting to People
LifeGroups facilitate authentic community and relationships where we care for one another, grow in our faith together and make an impact in our neighborhoods, community and world.
People Connecting to Need
We cultivate what we call, a bridge-building lifestyle, building relational bridges, bridges of compassion and bridges of global outreach where we help to meet the spiritual as well as physical needs of others.
Our vision is to reach out to the next generation and draw them into a family relationship that will support their spiritual needs and help them grow to maturity in Christ.
Baptism
We believe that baptism is an important part of the Christian walk. We want to encourage you to take a few minutes to reflect on what baptism is and what it means for you and the community around you.
We believe that baptism is a picture of salvation.
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. It is a physical picture to others of what has already occurred in the life of someone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ. In Romans 6:3-4 Paul says, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” As such, the physical act of baptism pictures what happens spiritually at the moment of salvation – the death and burial of sin with a resurrection into newness of life. By following Christ in baptism we are not only reminded of His sacrifice for us, but we act as a visible testimony to others of the sacrifice Christ made for them.
We believe that baptism is an act of obedience to Jesus Christ.
Baptism is an important part of the Christian walk because Christ both modeled it and commanded it in His ministry. Christ, Himself, was baptized in order to identify Himself as the Son of God and associate Himself with God’s purpose and mission. As we follow the example of Christ in baptism, we identify ourselves with Him and commit ourselves to walking as He walked (Col. 2:12; 1 Jn. 2:6). Moreover, in His last appearance to the disciples after His resurrection, Jesus commanded them to, “…go 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 I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a). Clearly, Christ intended that everyone who believes in Him should also be baptized. Consequently, baptism immediately became the public sign of every believer’s entry into the Christian community (see Acts 2:41, for example). Because of the significance of baptism, we believe that baptism is an important event for the community to witness. Your public expression of your faith and your decision to continue to pursue Christ and “walk as He walked” will certainly encourage the body of Christ and may even be used by God to help someone else find salvation in Jesus Christ.
We believe that baptism is not necessary for salvation.
The New Testament clearly teaches (in over 200 instances) that salvation is based on faith alone in Jesus Christ apart from any other action. (Jn. 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9) No New Testament author ever teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation. The thief on the cross illustrates this truth best, when Christ said to him based only on his profession of faith, “…today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43b). Again, baptism is a physical picture of what has already happened in the life of those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. In the early church, baptism and belief were so closely tied together that some passages don’t always say that converts believed, but simply that they were baptized (Acts 8:12 is an example). In that day and time there was no separation between baptism and salvation because no one would consider being baptized unless there was first a solid commitment to Christ. It should be the same today.
We practice baptism by immersion.
We encourage this method of water baptism by total immersion because it most clearly shows the meaning of baptism as identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We are happy to discuss other avenues for those battling physical disabilities or illness.
We do not practice infant baptism.
Since water baptism pictures a spiritual relationship with Christ beginning at salvation, and since salvation can only happen through a personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ, no person should be baptized until he/she is able to personally understand and respond to the Gospel. Christian parents have a natural desire for their children to receive salvation, but baptism cannot save.