For almost nine years a
small congregation existed almost underground (not
on purpose) in the city of Wyoming. What is the
church’s name? Wyoming Community Church. The church
was planted in 1996 by two Evangelical Free Churches
(Chisago Lakes in Lindstrom and Kost in North
Branch). The church began meeting in the basement of
Chisago Lakes E-Free Church, then moved to the
elementary school in Wyoming. After years of hauling
chairs and equipment every Sunday, they accepted a
gracious invitation to occupy the old sanctuary of
the Wyoming Methodist Church.
For
the past five years, the Wyoming Community Church
met in the old white building, until they were
forced to look elsewhere because of plans to tear
the building down for a new facility. For Wyoming
Community Church this was just what they needed—a
nudge!
In
September of 2004, a few people in the church
discovered a building for lease that they thought
would be ideal for the church. The “old dollar
store” (Red Hot Deals) on 26680 Faxton
Avenue in Wyoming was vacant, and the
landlord was interested in renting to the church.
This led to a three month process with the city of
Wyoming, who carefully and graciously reviewed their
application for a permit and eventually changed the
city ordinances to accept conditional use permits
for a church in the General Business District, after
which they granted the church a permit for that
building.
The
next three months turned into an education course on
city building codes for churches. At this time,
Sisbro Printing moved out of the building, allowing
the entire building to be leased by the church. In
March, the lease was signed and the church began the
challenging process (primarily consisting of
volunteer labor) of converting a dollar store and
print shop into a church building, with a sanctuary,
classrooms, compliant bathrooms, offices, and
kitchen. After blood, sweat, toil and tears, the
church held their first service in the Faxton
building on July 24th, in which they had a record
attendance.
The
location was not the only change the church made
this year. Wyoming Community Church is now Grace
Evangelical Free Church or “Grace Church”,
a change that was voted on in January, 2005, at
their annual business meeting. Grace Church’s
mission statement says that they are “Becoming a
people who treasure Christ and the Building of His
Kingdom”, and part of treasuring (or loving) Christ,
they believe, is loving and ministering to the
community. The Church is located “smack dab” in the
center of Wyoming, and they hope to be more than
just geographically centered in the community.
Grace Church has a strong desire and commitment to
serving the community in creative and helpful ways.
Grace Church is a member
of the Evangelical Free Church of America, an
association of churches that believe the Bible is
God's inspired, inerrant Word, given to us by God so
that we may know Him and understand what He requires
of us.
The
Evangelical Free church is built around two credos.
First, "Where stands it written?" We seek to ground
all that we do and believe in the Word of God. Thus
we ask in regard to everything, "Where stands it
written" in the Word of God?
Second, "Believers only, but all believers." When
it comes to fellowship, we rejoice to join together
in worship with anyone who believes in Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savoir and puts his or her hope for
eternal life only on Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.
1. We believe in one God, Creator of
all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally
existing in a loving unity of three equally divine
Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God
has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a
people for Himself and to make all things new for
His own glory.
The Bible
2. We believe that God has spoken in
the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through
the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired
Word of God, the Bible is without error in the
original writings, the complete revelation of His
will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by
which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor
should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in
all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires,
and trusted in all that it promises.
The Human
Condition
3. We believe that God created Adam
and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted
by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are
sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God,
and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work
in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and
renewed.
Jesus
Christ
4. We believe that Jesus Christ is
God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person
in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was
conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the
virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead,
ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of
God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Work of
Christ
5. We believe that Jesus Christ, as
our representative and substitute, shed His blood on
the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice
for our sins. His atoning death and victorious
resurrection constitute the only ground for
salvation.
The Holy
Spirit
6. We believe that the Holy Spirit,
in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus
Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He
regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized
into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the
family of God. He also indwells, illuminates,
guides, equips and empowers believers for
Christ-like living and service.
The Church
7. We believe that the true church
comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace
through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united
by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which
He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local
churches, whose membership should be composed only
of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two
ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which
visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they
are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by
the church in genuine faith, these ordinances
confirm and nourish the believer.
Christian
Living
8. We believe that God’s justifying
grace must not be separated from His sanctifying
power and purpose. God commands us to love Him
supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out
our faith with care for one another, compassion
toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With
God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer
in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual
forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission,
we are to make disciples among all people, always
bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Christ’s
Return
9. We believe in the personal, bodily
and premillennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God,
demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed
hope, motivates the believer to godly living,
sacrificial service and energetic mission.
Response
and Eternal Destiny
10. We believe that God commands
everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning
to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus
Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead
bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever
to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and
the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the
Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the
praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
We at Grace Church
earnestly desire and prayerfully strive to be a…
GOD-CENTERED:
We value the centrality of God in
everything. We exist by Him, through Him and for
Him. The chief purpose of every decision, event,
meeting or ministry exists to glorify God and enjoy
Him forever. (How is God glorified?)
CHRIST-TREASURING:
We value Jesus as the One who reveals
God to us, and it is our goal to not only trust and
obey Him but to treasure and savor Him with all our
heart, soul, strength and mind. (How is the Lord
Jesus exalted?)
FAITH-BUILDING:
We value faith in Christ as both a
gift from God and the vital and fundamental response
of the Christian to God. Without faith it is
impossible to please God, and therefore we make it
our goal to build each up in the faith. Helping each
other to live daily upon the promises of God must be
a high priority. (How is our faith in God
strengthened?)
PRAYER-EMPOWERED:
We value prayer because we are
dependent people. We believe that we must make
prayer the visible engine of all our efforts in
ministry and worship. (Have we dependently asked
God’s help through prayer?)
BIBLE-SATURATED:
We value being saturated with the
Word of God, the Bible, which is God’s reliable,
authoritative and sufficient revelation. We desire
to grow a love for the Word, as well as a deepening
understanding of it, in each person within the
church. (What does the Word say or infer? Is the
Bible front and center?)
DISCIPLE-PRODUCING:
We value growth in “Christ-likeness”
in every believer, as all of us become the disciples
God intends us to be. We value an intentionality to
make and reproduce disciples according to God’s
Word. (How are we growing closer to Jesus [and into
the image of God]?)
FAMILY-STRENGTHENING:
We value building up strong
marriages and families, where God’s Word is taught
and lived out, where husbands love their wives (as
Christ), where wives respect their husbands, where
hearts of parents are turned towards their children,
and children towards their parents. (How does this
positively and negatively effect families?)
LOVE-EXPRESSING:
We value the Spirit-led expression of
love within the body of Christ and towards
unbelievers. We desire to grow as a true family
grows or as a healthy body functions. We believe
this love comes by the Holy Spirit through faith in
Christ. (How does this demonstrate the love of
Christ?)
RELATIONSHIP-PURSUING:
We value the intentional
pursuit of authentic, healthy relationships. God
created us for community and in a world where so
many miss the mark, the church must strive to get it
right by actively pursuing the “one another”
commands of Scripture. (How does this build and
strength biblically healthy relationships?)
and MISSION-MOBILIZING:
We value missions and
evangelism as the privilege God has given us as His
ambassadors, accomplishing His goal of spreading the
knowledge of His glory to all the nations. We desire
to pursue Christ’s guidance and empowerment in the
building of His Kingdom among all the peoples of the
world, because we treasure Him above all things.
(Does this advance the cause of the Gospel to our
community and world?)
…CHURCH.
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