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Our Vision
Embracing God's Vision for
Authentic spiritual vision embraces goals that are impossible to accomplish from a human standpoint. Other kinds of vision depend on human resources for their realization. However, God’s vision depends on God alone to supply the unseen resources that only He can provide. Other kinds of vision prompt leaders to ask “Can we accomplish this?”. The spiritual vision that God imparts to His people prompts us to ask only one question: “Is this God’s will?”
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God has entrusted us with immense physical and spiritual resources that He intends us to use in an eternally significant way. If everything that God has been doing at Grace is a reflection of His will to use us as a profound spiritual influence in
What kind of church is God calling us to be?
What kind of spiritual impact is He calling us to have in the lives of believers and pre-believers?
What kind of church can we become if we really believed that God wanted us to build on our current strengths without being limited by them?
What kind of church would we become if we trusted God to do the humanly impossible?
What kind of church will be become if our desire is to make a profound and enduring impact for Christ in our community and our world?
WHAT GRACE COMMUNITY COVENANT WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE NEXT 5 TO 10 YEARS
Grace will continue to grow in both in size and influence in our community as progressively greater numbers of individuals and families come to faith in Jesus Christ and are discipled, equipped and mobilized to be an influence for Him.
In order to make the greatest possible impact on the spiritual landscape of
A key part of this strategy includes the construction a new worship center that will seat at least 800 adults. Although structural modification of our current facilities—namely the Fellowship Hall and Grace House—will provide us with some acutely needed fellowship and office space, these measures will not keep pace with the growing number of people that God is bringing to Grace. With the construction of a new worship center we will not only be able to accommodate the growing numbers of people coming to Grace, we will be able to use our Family Life Center more effectively for the wide variety of ministries that were originally envisioned.
Sunday Morning Worship…
Grace will continue to focus on authentic and passionate worship of Jesus Christ that enables people of all ages and backgrounds to sense the presence of God and challenges them to respond in wholehearted obedience to Him. We will be a seeker-sensitive church without being seeker-driven. Truth will not be compromised, but traditions and forms will be continually evaluated, modified, added, or deleted in order to more effectively reach our post-Christian culture. We will acquire, fully utilize and integrate audio and visual technologies that are consistent with this goal. Sunday morning worship will be a transforming experience for people as they sense the presence of God, hear His word to them, respond in joyful obedience and are drawn into a growing love relationship with Jesus Christ. Opportunities for individuals to commit or recommit their lives to Christ will be planned for and provided on a regular basis.
We Will Welcome Visitors From Our Community…
We will expect and prepare for new people by offering a place where they can experience fellowship and connection in an informal setting before and after worship services. This will be an intentional ministry with trained volunteers and specific funding (to supplement the cost of coffee and breakfast treats that are not covered by donations). Volunteers will work in cooperation with Welcome and Next Step teams in answering questions, giving directions and helping new people make a meaningful connection.
Welcome and Prayer Ministries Will Reach Out To New People, New Believers, and Hurting People…
Welcome and Prayer Teams will be trained to welcome new people and reach out to hurting people through strategies that underscore their importance to God and to us. We will not only expect and see a steady stream of new people each week, we will expect and see the Holy Spirit at work each week as pre-believers come to faith in Christ, believers are brought to deeper commitment, and hurting people find healing and wholeness through the diverse gifts and ministries that are expressed on Sunday morning— especially music, teaching, encouragement, evangelism, hospitality, mercy and intercessory prayer.
We Will Initiate A Next Step Ministry…
We will expect and prepare for new people that God is drawing to Grace and new believers that He is drawing to faith in Himself through teams of men and women who can answer questions, offer resources, and encourage seekers and new believers in taking their next step in their spiritual journey. A Next Step ministry table, located in an expanded fellowship area, will be staffed after every service with trained volunteers who can offer apologetic resources (such as the Jesus video, The Case for Faith, or The Case for Christ) and life skill resources (that offer biblical guidance on critical issues such as grief, addiction, depression, divorce, illness) free of charge or at minimal cost.
We Will Develop and Refine Our Assimilation Of New People…
Current assimilation strategies – monthly Welcome to Grace Luncheons and quarterly Taste of Grace Desserts—will be refined and augmented by other appropriate strategies that enable new people to enter into a progressively deeper relationship with God and His people here at Grace. These strategies will be employed in a manner that allows us to monitor the assimilation of new people so that few people “fall between the cracks”.
We Will Fully Utilize The Sunday Morning For Christian Education and Ministry Skill Development…
Sunday Morning Worship Services will be scheduled in a manner that promotes Christian education opportunities for all ages. Children’s ministry will continue to emphasize the complementary and reinforcing roles of both Real Life and Sunday School. Junior High and High School Sunday School will focus even more sharply on equipping adolescents with God’s truth so that they can live with discernment and make Christ-honoring choices. Adult ministry will allow people to choose between classes that focus on an inductive approach to a book of the Bible or the application of biblical truth to pressing life issues such as marriage and parenting. All classes will aim to apply God’s truth to key life issues—Money, Marriage, Sex, Health, Addictions, Workplace ethics etc.—with clarity and relevance. Sunday mornings will also be our most strategic time in which ults are trained and equipped for specific ministries in the church or in the community—including mentoring, hospital visitation, evangelism, Next Step ministry, welcome ministry, serving at Union Gospel Mission, etc. In short, the Christian education and ministry training opportunities we offer will aim at providing people of all ages with four things: reasons for faith, skills for living, tools for serving and hope for eternity.
We Will Invest In Wednesday Evening As A Primary Connecting Point For Our People…
Although Sunday School will serve as a significant element in our overall strategy for discipleship, we will develop Wednesday evening as a mid-week supplement to Sunday Morning. On Wednesday evenings we will bring our people together with a simple low cost meal that precedes a vast array of activities for every age group. Nursery and toddler care will be provided so that young couples and single mothers can attend one of themany adult small groups that will meet on campus (or nearby). A children’s program will be offered for children 4 years through 11 years. While the specific model and curriculum used for this mid-week event will be decided by the Children’s Advisory Board, it is likely that we will adopt a program that has proven success (such as AWANA) rather than attempt to develop our own. Junior and Senior High groups meeting simultaneously in separate locations. College students attending Grace and attending school in the area will meet on campus as well in a dedicated space that allows them to invite friends.
We Will Offer Specialized Seminars And Classes For The Growth Of Our People…
Other opportunities for adult discipleship will take advantage of specialized teaching and training events held on campus on select weekends (Friday evenings and all day Saturday) or weeknight classes. These events will include seminars and classes that enhance ministry skills (worship, teaching etc.), deepen devotional life (prayer seminars or retreats), facilitate healing (such as “Cleansing Stream” ministry), strengthen family relationships (marriage seminars, parenting classes), and extend our spiritual influence (lifestyle evangelism).
We Will Focus “On Growing Smaller Through Small Groups” as We Grow Larger In Size…
Because people matter to God and relationships matter to people at Grace we will proactively address the sense of disconnection that people can feel in a larger church by promoting small groups – including accountability groups, men’s and women’s Bible studies, Covenant Groups, support and recovery groups – as a crucial connecting point for every adult attending Grace.
As we grow numerically small groups – especially Covenant Groups – will emerge as the key entry point for new people as well a key connecting point for Grace “veterans”. We will pursue an intentional strategy of assimilating new people in small groups that will be formed in the early fall and in January. Leaders will be recruited and trained and new groups will be encouraged to continue meeting as Covenant Groups whenever possible. Participants in small groups that did not continue beyond their initial start up will be recruited to newly formed groups that are suited to their needs and preferences. Covenant Groups themselves will continue as self-contained and autonomous groups that are connected with the larger body but empowered to pursue their own spiritual agendas.
We Will Expand Our Influence For Christ Regionally and Cross-Culturally Through…
A New Church Plant In South Thurston County…As a church that is committed to advancing God’s agenda in here in the Pacific Northwest we will partner with the North Pacific Conference in planting a new church in the rapidly growing areas near Tenino and Rochester. The timing of this event would be dependent on the readiness of the Covenant to commit resources for a church planter and start up costs. Our commitment would consist providing a core of a dozen or more families who are called and sent out as pioneers in this enterprise.
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As a church that is committed to advancing God’s agenda cross-culturally, we will seek to plant a Hispanic church that is focused on reaching permanent residents as seasonal workers in
We Will Develop A Stronger Connection With Our Community Through…
Seasonal Events That Target Young Families…We will offer at least three seasonal events a year that provide young families with meaningful opportunities to encounter the Good News of Jesus Christ. We will refine and develop our Children’s Easter Journey (a one evening event featuring activities and symbolic tokens focusing on the meaning of Good Friday and Easter). We will offer a Christmas event—An Evening In Bethlehem—that features foods, craftsmen, and animals that highlight the Christmas story for children and their parents. Other possible events such as a Children’s Harvest Party (during Halloween) will be offered as a focused effort to “season every season” with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Dramatic and Musical Events…
We will fully utilize our current
Youth Oriented Concerts and Seminars…
We will fully utilize our current Family Life Center with musical concerts and/or seminar events (such as SHARE) that target the life issues and struggles facing adolescents in a way that presents God’s truth and encourages them to trust in Jesus Christ.Summer Sports Clinics For Children and Youth And After School Programs For Elementary Age Children. In meeting the growing needs of families in our immediate area we will partner with Cornerstone Christian Elementary School in offering summer sports clinics (such as basketball, volleyball, etc.) as well as after schools programs that offer supervised athletic games and/or tutoring.
Counseling and Recovery Ministries…
In meeting the acute needs of individuals and families that cope with a wide range of problems ranging from grief, depression, addiction, and family dysfunction, we will coordinate an on campus counseling ministry that can serve the counseling needs of people in our church and the larger community. This ministry would operate in conjunction with recovery groups that are led by counselors or trained lay people that focus on various kinds of needs.
