Grace Values 1, 2, 3

As we have embarked on launching Grace Harborcreek - one of the exercises that has been very valuable for our leaders is re-clarifying our values as a church. These are the things that define us, that carry our DNA, that ensure that whether you walk into Grace McKean, Grace Harborcreek, or any of our future campuses that you will recognize the church as distinctly Grace. In my State of the Church sermon I talked through these 9 values and will briefly outline them in this 3 part series of blog posts.  


1. We worship and pray to a big God who has big plans.

•  Worship is not just music, it's the full trajectory of our lives.  
•  In corporate worship at Grace our goal is to ascribe greatness to God. Our hope is to create an environment where people can connect with God in all His glory.
•  The book of Acts provides a great study of the church at prayer- their prayer was defined by a sense of desperation for God to show up.  
•  God's people must pray bold prayers because God has bold plans for us. 

2. We teach the Bible - even the tough parts.

• Our commitment at Grace is to teach Bible.  We have a high view of the Scriptures and won’t pull punches or water it down when we teach it. 
• We're also committed that the scriptures are not only taught by the Pastors but from one to another within the church.  
• Those who are more mature should be instructing the next generation in the ways of faith.

3. We grow in our faith. There's always a spiritual next step.

• There is an expectation throughout the scriptures that true followers of Christ will be making consistent spiritual progress. The theological term for this is progressive sanctification.  
• We recognize that every faith journey is different and there is no such thing as assembly-line spirituality. God is a hand-crafter, not a mass-producer.
• But there is something common common to all Christ-followers no matter how new or how mature, there is always a next step toward Christ-likeness.
• Our commitment at Grace is to provide spiritual coaches to help at every step as people pursue spiritual maturity.  We've identified some of the common characteristics of growing disciples as 
• L   ive in community
• I   nvest in others
• V  olunteer your time
• E  quip yourself

You can find values 4, 5, 6 here and 7, 8, 9 here