Since our beginning in 1954, Grace Missionary Church has sought to live out the gospel within our community, aiming to meet spiritual, relational, and physical needs of individuals and families. Though our church looks different than when we first began, our focus remains consistent: proclaiming the good news of who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and how we're to live in response to Him.
Every disciple of Jesus is still charged with the same mission that the first disciples were given: As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. Go and make disciples of all peoples (John 20:21, Matthew 28:19-20). This mission is why we do what we do as a local church in Celina.
As a church family, we pursue disciple-making by connecting with others to grow together in Jesus. Becoming a disciple, and living as a disciple, is not done in isolation; disciples are made in community with other disciples. It is in this disciple-making community that transformation happens. As we rely on the Holy Spirit, and as we believe God's Word, we take steps to the right towards Jesus, becoming more like Him.
Our maturity as disciples becomes evident in our engagement with three types of relationships: God (Up), those in the church (In), those outside the church (Out). Therefore, at Grace, we're intentional in providing opportunities for people to abide in Jesus (Up), grow as a family (In), and connect with their neighbors (Out).
This is who we are and what we're about.
Every disciple of Jesus is still charged with the same mission that the first disciples were given: As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. Go and make disciples of all peoples (John 20:21, Matthew 28:19-20). This mission is why we do what we do as a local church in Celina.
As a church family, we pursue disciple-making by connecting with others to grow together in Jesus. Becoming a disciple, and living as a disciple, is not done in isolation; disciples are made in community with other disciples. It is in this disciple-making community that transformation happens. As we rely on the Holy Spirit, and as we believe God's Word, we take steps to the right towards Jesus, becoming more like Him.
Our maturity as disciples becomes evident in our engagement with three types of relationships: God (Up), those in the church (In), those outside the church (Out). Therefore, at Grace, we're intentional in providing opportunities for people to abide in Jesus (Up), grow as a family (In), and connect with their neighbors (Out).
This is who we are and what we're about.
What we Value
As a church, we strive to infuse the following values into everything we do:
- All of Christ – the point of why we gather, why we grow in faith, and why we share the gospel, is for one reason: for the name and renown of Jesus. Each ministry is done through His enablement. Each message points to who He is and what He has accomplished on our behalf. Each of us are to imitate His likeness in every area of our life through His own sufficiency and grace.
- God's Word – from God’s Word do we understand who God is, and in return, we understand who we are and how we’re to live as those belonging to Him. What we believe must always be grounded in what God has spoken.
- Prayer – to keep ourselves abiding in God and on course as a church, we must be a people who faithfully seek Him in prayer, because apart from Him we can do nothing. While it is important to pray as individuals, it is equally important to pray together as a church. The example given in the Book of Acts needs to continue being the example today.
- Discipleship – every ministry and mission opportunity means to encourage, equip, and empower people to take steps to the right towards Jesus and grow proportionately UP, IN, and OUT.
- Relationships – because we believe that discipleship does not happen in isolation but rather in community, we see our church as being a family who’s committed to helping each person grow as a disciple of Jesus. Because we are messy people, the reality of the gospel needs to be extended to every relationship, remembering that we have been joined to Christ and thus to one another.
What we believe
The Bible
The Bible is the written Word of God, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and, therefore, true, reliable, and without error in all it addresses. The Bible forever remains the unchanging and final authority for faith and living.
The Trinity
There is only one eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere-present Triune God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - who is the creator and sustainer of all things.
God the Father
God the Father is the creator of all things and for whom all things exist. As the author of salvation, He adopts into His family all who are born again by faith. He gloriously upholds and providentially rules over all things, to accomplish the redemption of His people and the restoration of all creation.
God the Son
Jesus Christ is the eternally begotten Son of the Father. He is the fully divine, living Word of God who also became fully human, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. His sinless human life, humble obedience to His Father’s will, sacrificial death and bodily resurrection made sufficient provision for the salvation of man. In His ascension, He returned to His Father, where He reigns as Lord, Advocate, Great High Priest, and Coming Judge.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from and is sent by the Father and Son, is the personal expression of God’s power. He is the author and illuminator of sacred Scripture. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is the agent of the new birth, the one by whom we are baptized into the Body of Christ. He indwells every believer and His Church, purifying and empowering His people for holy living. He guides them into truth, comforts and encourages them, and enables them to fulfill the Great Commission.
Humanity
God created human beings, male and female, as co-equal bearers of the image of God. Gender is divinely designed, part of the goodness of creation. Human sexuality is a gift, intended to be expressed exclusively in a monogamous, lifelong marital union between one man and one woman. The Bible also affirms the sacredness of the single state and that some may have the gift of lifetime celibacy.
Sin
Concerning sin, Adam and Eve were created without sin for perfect fellowship with God. Through the misuse of their wills, however, our original parents succumbed to Satan’s temptation, disobeyed God’s command and thus brought sin into the world and became subject to physical and spiritual death. They became corrupt in their nature and have passed on that nature to all their descendants. As a result, all human beings, are estranged from God by their sin and thus deserve God’s wrath.
Salvation
Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our salvation. He voluntarily offered Himself as our representative and substitute, and suffered and died on the cross in our place, taking upon Himself God’s righteous wrath. We believe in His bodily resurrection on the third day, which powerfully declared Him to be the Son of God. By His death and resurrection, Jesus once for all conquered sin, death, hell, and the devil.
A person enters salvation only by grace through faith, and not the result of any works. By the power of the Holy Spirit, a sinner turns away from sin and embraces God, thus appropriating the benefits of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. All who believe and receive Christ as Savior are fully justified, reconciled to God, born of His Spirit, adopted as His children, and united with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
A person enters salvation only by grace through faith, and not the result of any works. By the power of the Holy Spirit, a sinner turns away from sin and embraces God, thus appropriating the benefits of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. All who believe and receive Christ as Savior are fully justified, reconciled to God, born of His Spirit, adopted as His children, and united with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
The Church
The local church is to be a loving community of Christ’s followers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction in the Word, mutual encouragement and discipline. As the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church is to display His holiness, bear His fruit, and be adorned by His gracious gifts.The Church is called by Jesus to proclaim the gospel, locally, cross culturally and internationally, and to make disciples of everyone everywhere in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were instituted by the Lord Jesus Himself, not as a means of salvation, but as outward signs of the salvation we have by faith. They are the divinely mandated means by which believers publicly affirm their faith in Christ.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were instituted by the Lord Jesus Himself, not as a means of salvation, but as outward signs of the salvation we have by faith. They are the divinely mandated means by which believers publicly affirm their faith in Christ.
The Return of Jesus
The return of Jesus will be personal, bodily, visible, and glorious. His second coming, the blessed hope for which we must be constantly prepared, is a source of encouragement and comfort, a motive for holy living, and an inspiration for ministry and mission.
Every person will face one of two eternal destinies. For those in Christ, no condemnation awaits them, because their sins were forgiven at the cross. They will enjoy an eternal, embodied life in the presence of God and His angels, forever.
Those who are not in Christ will be raised to appear before God for a final, irrevocable judgment. They will be consigned to a place of eternal, conscious punishment, separated from God in hell, with Satan and his angels.
Every person will face one of two eternal destinies. For those in Christ, no condemnation awaits them, because their sins were forgiven at the cross. They will enjoy an eternal, embodied life in the presence of God and His angels, forever.
Those who are not in Christ will be raised to appear before God for a final, irrevocable judgment. They will be consigned to a place of eternal, conscious punishment, separated from God in hell, with Satan and his angels.
Click here for a more detailed statement of beliefs.
Grace Missionary Church is part of the East Central Region of the Missionary Church family.
Grace Missionary Church is part of the East Central Region of the Missionary Church family.