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QUESTIONS

HOW DID GRACE GET ITS START?

In 1981, three men with their families got together to start a Bible centered home church in Costa Mesa, California. Originally named, “School of Life”, the name was changed shortly thereafter to Grace Fellowship Church. As the church family grew, meetings took place in a few local elementary schools for a number of years before moving to our current facility on Red Hill Ave. in 1993.

Though many things have changed over the years, we are still committed to centering our lives and ministry around the Word of God as we seek to follow Him wherever and however he chooses to lead us.

WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A SENIOR PASTOR?

We believe the Bible encourages a shared model of leadership. Rather than ask one person to carry the weight of the entire church, we try to equip and empower our various staff to work within their unique giftedness without requiring any one of them to be all things to all people. We work hard to provide our staff with an environment that is healthy and a schedule that is sustainable over many years of ministry.

WHAT'S YOUR STYLE OF PREACHING?

Above all, we want to approach and teach the Bible with great respect, care and accuracy. Because of this, we greatly value expository preaching. While we may occasionally teach topically, as much as possible, we seek to let the truths of Scripture speak to us from within their original Biblical contexts. We are always seeking the meaning of a passage within its original context, and we are always exploring the significance of that passage for our lives today.

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW OF WORSHIP?

We believe that worship involves “bowing all of who we are before all of who God is.” That is, worship is far more than what happens on Sunday mornings; it is a 24/7 lifestyle response to God’s grace in our lives. It involves surrendering to Him daily and gratefully offering up all that we are and all that we have to be used in service to Him.

WHAT'S YOUR STYLE OF WORSHIP?

Rather than choose between traditional hymns and contemporary worship songs, we use a blended worship that includes songs from all ages. Regardless of when a song was written, we try to find songs that are musically compelling and rich in substance. We believe there is great value in hymns with their rich theology and high view of God, as well as in contemporary choruses with their intimate and emotional focus. We have a rotation of worship teams that play a diverse style of acoustic music.

WHY DON'T YOU HAVE MORE PROGRAMS?

We believe that the gifts and the desires of our members should drive programs and ministries rather than vice versa. We try to allow ministries and programs to flow out of the unique relationships and gifts of our community rather than imposing pre-set programs onto the community. We trust that God brings the people he desires to our community and that He gifts and impassions each one for unique ministries. So, rather than try to create programs using a top-down approach, we try to foster a healthy community out of which people are encouraged and empowered to pursue their unique giftedness for the sake of God’s kingdom.

WHY DON'T YOU PASS A PLATE?

We encourage our members to give financially, not out of compulsion, but out of a heart of gratitude, and we trust God to meet our financial needs as he sees fit. We believe that the way we think about and manage our financial resources is indicative of our devotion to God and His kingdom. Therefore, as part of our overall worship to Him, our financial generosity is an important response to God’s grace in our lives.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

We encourage you to check out our various ministries that are formally offered at Grace. If any one of them resonates with your heart we invite you to join us in serving together. If you have a passion for ministry that you don’t see at Grace and would like to bring leadership to our community in this area, we would love to talk with you. For questions, contact Mark Page at mpage@gracefellowshipchurch.org

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT GRACE?

At Grace we don’t view success in ministry in ways that are common to the world. We don’t focus on how many programs we’re running or even how many people we’re impacting. We are less concerned with being “successful” and more concerned with simply being faithful—faithful to honoring and worshiping God, faithful to loving each other and those in the community, and faithful to growing in our understanding of God. Because of this, we spend a lot of time just being together, walking through the Scriptures together, and walking through the challenges of our lives together. We have found that this creates a healthy environment where people feel free to discover who God is and who He has created them to be.

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3170 Red Hill Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92626