Grace Community belongs to an international network and fellowship of churches known as the Church of the Nazarene. The Church of the Nazarene provides us with moral, spiritual, and financial accountability.
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It was founded in 1908 to spread the message of Scriptural holiness (Christ-like living) across the lands. The Church of the Nazarene is a Great Commission church. We believe God offers everyone forgiveness, peace, joy, purpose, love, meaning in life and the promise of heaven through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are called to take this message to people everywhere.
The Church of the Nazarene is also a holiness church. We believe that Christians can experience a deeper level of life in which there is victory over sin, power to witness and serve, and a richer fellowship with God, all through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
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The Church of the Nazarene describes itself as a Christian, Protestant, and Evangelical church.
We believe...
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In one God, the Creator of all things, who reveals himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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In Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man and who became like us to show us the way to God.
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In the Holy Spirit, who is active in the world, revealing our need for God's reconciling grace and empowering us to respond to the free offer of salvation.
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The Bible is the written and authoritative Word of God, revealing the way to a restored relationship with God and providing guidance for all areas of life and church practice.
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We are all sinners by both nature and actions, and need God's forgiveness and cleansing.
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​Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. As we confess, turn away from our sins, and accept his death as payment for our sins, we are restored to right relationship with God.
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When we turn from sin and trust Christ, the old record of sin is wiped clean and we are born anew, thus becoming part of the family of God.
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After being born anew, we need the fullness of God's Spirit in our hearts. When we make a complete commitment to him, He cleanses our hearts, fills us with His perfect love (for God and for others), and gives us the power to live victoriously.
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Jesus rose again from the dead, ascended to the right hand of God and will return again to establish his kingdom and reign.
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Everyone will stand before God to be held accountable for how they lived their lives on earth and will receive their just reward or punishment.
OUR CORE VALUES:
WE ARE A HOLINESS PEOPLE
God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a second work of grace, called by various terms including "entire sanctification" and "baptism with the Holy Spirit"-cleansing us from all sin, renewing us in the image of God, empowering us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and producing in us the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most clearly understood as Christlikeness.
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WE ARE A MISSIONAL PEOPLE
We are a sent people, responding to the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of Christ and participating with God in the building of the Church and the extension of His kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:1). Our mission begins in worship, ministers to the world in evangelism and compassion, encourages believers toward Christian maturity through discipleship, and prepares women and men for Christian service through Christian higher education.
WE ARE A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
As members of the Church Universal, we join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in embracing the historic Trinitarian creedal statements of Christian faith. We value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage and believe it to be a way of understanding the faith that is true to Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.
