Worship is expressing with our lips and our lives that God is most worthy of our love and devotion. Of all the good things we enjoy in this life, God is our highest treasure. Worship is something we strive to do in all of life (Romans 12:1-2). On the Lord's Day, the congregation gathers to meet God together in public worship. Our aim is to give God the glory He is due and to enjoy the blessings that He promises to His gathered people. We believe that God should be worshipped in the way that He has prescribed. God is to be worshipped as the one and only true God. (Exodus 20:3). He is to be worshipped apart from images (Exodus 20:4), in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Our worship is to be joyful and reverent. When we gather, we do so to read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible. We have several things in GBC for which we regularly gather together: our Sunday morning worship service, our Sunday school hour, our Sunday evening prayer service, and our discipleship groups.
Our service opens with a call to worship and prayer. The selected passage of Scripture frames our prayer of adoration, confession, and petition. Prayer is offered at the beginning and at the end of each sermon.
We sing the psalms, the great hymns of old (Holy, Holy, Holy, and Amazing Grace) and the best of the worship songs of today (In Christ Alone and O Great God).
Along with the call to worship and the reading of the sermon text, a particular passage of Scripture is read aloud to the congregation. It is normally a chapter from the alternate Testament of the sermon text.
Just as early saints brought willing offerings, we express our worship of God by joyfully sharing a portion of what He has supplied for us.
Each month the congregation of believers observes the Lord's Supper. A communion meditation is drawn from the Scripture reading. We stress that only believers, who are in fellowship with a particular local church (or moving in that direction) should partake of the Supper.
The pastor expounds a particular passage of Scripture with related applications. The point of the text is the point of the sermon. By systematically working through books of both the Old and New Testament, the congregation learns what God tells us to believe and to do. See a list of upcoming sermons or download audio sermons.
Preaching demands a verdict. Those who hear the Word are called to respond in repentance, faith, and action. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples…” Jesus said (John 8:31). To this end, the gathered worship of Grace Bible Church is designed to be God-centered, Christ-exalting, and Spirit-empowered.
After a short time of fellowship and refreshments, we begin our Sunday school hour. We offer a class for children and often two different classes for adults. The children's class and one of the adult classes take place upstairs, and the other adult class takes place in the chapel. Our Sunday school classes are formatted to be interactive and to encourage discussion.
Our church family gathers for singing, prayer, and a short message. After someone leads us in a brief prayer, we join our voices in praising God in song. Then we hear announcements and share matters for prayer from both our corporate and individual lives. We then pray for these things in one of two formats: volunteers lead the congregation in prayer for each of those things, or we break up into small groups and pray together for all of them. After this time of prayer, one of our teachers gives a brief study from God's Word.
We provide childcare during all of our Sunday services for children (birth-3 years). We warmly welcome children in our meetings and encourage children 4 years and older to attend worship services with their parents.
(various locations, various days and time) Throughout the week, we have different groups meeting in different places, with different focuses.