Who we are
Organized in 1954, Grace United Protestant Church is an exciting place to be. We have a rich
worship tradition that is anchored by sound Biblical preaching, an excellent music program, and
a strong dedication to missions. Our congregation is warm and lively. We strive to create an
atmosphere where all who enter feel a welcoming presence. We are open to all persons who come seeking a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As a United Protestant Church, Grace is intentionally founded as multi denominational and is also a member of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church and Reconciling Ministries Network.
Our Mission
Through God’s grace and as apprentices of Christ’s living example, we stand united in our
commitment to welcome and embrace the diversity of all children of God, regardless of sexual
orientation or gender identity, and wish to reach out to those underserved to provide a safe space
for spiritual growth. We strive to be obedient to the global commission in making disciples of all
nations and in creating an inclusive fellowship to foster fairness, justice, peace, love and
understanding among all as reflected in our name – Grace United Protestant Church
What We Believe
We share a common heritage with all Christians with the following basic affirmations: Belief in
God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Human Beings, The Church, The Bible, God’s Reign, and
Grace in the plan of Salvation.
God
We believe God as a Trinity—three persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God, who is
one, is revealed in three distinct persons. “God in three persons, blessed Trinity” is one way of
speaking about the several ways we experience God. We affirm God is “everlasting” and
“infinite” in power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and love.” Because we cannot speak literally
about God, we use metaphors: God is a Shepherd, a Judge. God is Love or Light or Truth.
What God does
We cannot describe God with certainty. But we can put into words what God does and how we
experience Gods action in our lives. God works in at least these seven ways: God creates,
God sustains, God loves, God suffers, God judges. God redeems, God reigns. God is the Lord
of all creation and of all history. Though it may oftentimes seem that the “principalities and
powers” of evil have the stronger hand, we affirm Gods present and future reign. When all is
done, if we have difficulty in imagining who God is or in relating to God, there’s a simple
solution: Remember Jesus—for in the New Testament picture of Jesus, we see God.
Jesus
We believe in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ. God became human in Jesus
of Nazareth; and his life, death and resurrection demonstrates Gods redeeming love. We believe
that Jesus is the Son of God as well as Son of man in experiencing our human life.
Christ
We say “Jesus Christ” easily, almost as if “Christ” were Jesus surname. Yet this name is
another way of expressing who we believe Jesus to be. In calling him our Christ today, we affirm
that he was and is the fulfillment of the ancient hope and Gods Chosen One to bring salvation to
all peoples, for all time.
Lord
We also proclaim Jesus as our Lord, the one to whom we give our devoted allegiance. To
claim Jesus as Lord is to freely submit our will to his, to humbly profess that it is he who is in
charge of this world. Savior: Perhaps best of all, we believe in Jesus as Savior, as the one through whom God has
freed us of our sin and has given us the gift of whole life, eternal life, and salvation. We speak of
this gift as the atonement, our “at-oneness” or reconciliation with God. We believe that in ways
we cannot fully explain, God has done this through the mystery of Jesus self-giving sacrifice on
the cross and his victory over sin and death in the Resurrection.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is Gods present activity in our midst. When we sense Gods leading, Gods
challenge, or Gods support or comfort, it’s the Holy Spirit at work. The Holy Spirit, who brought the
church into being, is still guiding and upholding it, if we will but listen.
The fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit are not of our own achievement. They are the outgrowth of
the Spirit’s work in us, by grace, through our faith in Jesus the Christ. Through these fruits and
gifts, the Holy Spirit empowers us for ministry in the world. How does the Holy Spirit affect our
lives? By changing us! By renewing us and by strengthening us for the work of ministry.
Human Beings
Genesis 1:27 asserts that we’ve been made in the image of the Creator. Like God we have the
capacity to love and care, to communicate, and to create.
We believe that God created human beings in God’s image.
We believe that humans can choose to accept or reject a relationship with God. We believe that all humans need to be in relationship with God in order to be fully human.
The Church
The church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today.
We believe that the church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today.
We believe that the mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
We believe that the church is “the communion of saints,” a community made up of all past,present, and future disciples of Christ.
We believe that the church is called to worship God and to support those who participate in its life as they grow in faith.
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is the primary authority for our faith and practice. We say that the
Bible is vital to our faith and life. The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books, thirty-nine in the
Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) and twenty-seven in the New Testament. Though these books
were written over a one-thousand-year period in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (the
language Jesus spoke), and Greek, we still believe that Bible is a sacred scripture inspired by God and
filled with God’s Spirit as they wrote the truth to the best of their knowledge.
The Bible’s authority is, therefore, nothing magical. For example, we do not open the text at
random to discover God’s will. The authority of Scripture derives from the movement of God’s
Spirit in times past and in our reading of it today.
Gods Reign
The kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future hope. Christian faith is, in part,
a matter of hoping. We believe in and trust the Lord of the future, and we lean into the future that
God has promised. God goes before us, beckoning us into the new world that is already being
created, calling us to join in the challenging work of fashioning it. We believe that the kingdom
of God is coming as promised by Jesus.
Read Me Daily
Our part
And what is our role? To sit back and simply wait for Gods kingdom to arrive? By no means! We are to pray earnestly for the Kingdom to come on earth (Matthew 6:10). We are to watch faithfully for any signs of its coming (Matthew 25:13). We are to put away our “old selves and clothe ourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”(Ephesians 4:24). As renewed people, we’re to do “the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). As Easter people witness and serve, we take part in the Kingdoms dawning. Thy Kingdom come!
Amazing Grace
We believe in Grace of God in the Plan of Salvation: Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, Sanctifying Grace. “This salvation is Gods gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of” (Ephesians 2:8-9 CEB).
Prevenient Grace
We believe in Prevenient Grace that God is at work before we know it: Prevenient grace is the
grace of the porch. It prepares us to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to respond in faith.
We believe that it is by grace that we are forgiven: Justifying grace is the grace of the door. At
the moment of justification, we cross the threshold from unbelief to belief.
We believe Grace’s power over sin: Sanctifying grace is the grace of the interior. Our spiritual
growth as followers of Jesus is a gift from God.