WHO WE ARE

GCC is a group of believers coming together to serve and worship God. We then want to take the Good News of Jesus out to the world together as one body in Christ, by demonstrating sacrificial love for all. We are guided by our identity as Disciples of Christ, laid out beautifully in the Preamble to the Design of the Christian Church:


As members of the Christian Church,
We confess that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God,
and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.
In Christ’s name and by his grace
we accept our mission of witness
and service to all people.
We rejoice in God,
maker of heaven and earth,
and in God’s covenant of love
which binds us to God and to one another.
Through baptism into Christ
we enter into newness of life
and are made one with the whole people of God.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit
we are joined together in discipleship
and in obedience to Christ.
At the Table of the Lord
we celebrate with thanksgiving
the saving acts and presence of Christ.
Within the universal church
we receive the gift of ministry
and the light of scripture.
In the bonds of Christian faith
we yield ourselves to God
that we may serve the One
whose kingdom has no end.
Blessing, glory, and honor
be to God forever. Amen.



"In essentials, we strive for unity; in matters of opinion, we allow freedom; and in all things, we show love."   


WE BELIEVE


... there is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.


... in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His reconciling death for all people, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to heaven, and His future return in power and glory.


... the Holy Scripture was received by God's messengers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and remains an authority for all we believe and practice.


... salvation is by the grace of God, apart from any personal merit, and is the common need of all people, who have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards. This restored life is received through faith in Christ alone, who is himself the gift that God offers.


... the appropriate and commanded response of faith is repentance of sin, confession of Christ as Lord, baptism with water, regular participation in the Lord’s Supper, and continued growth in the love and knowledge of the Lord.


... in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Whose indwelling presence empowers and directs the Christian to live a godly life.


... in the resurrection from the dead; with believers inheriting eternal and abundant life with Christ and unbelievers facing judgment before God.


... in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not the only Christians, but we strive to be Christians only. God's love is meant to be experienced in the community of the local church and diversity of the universal church around the world and throughout time.


** These simplified statements are intended to bring clarity to our historic doctrinal positions as a congregation. However, we remain a non-creedal church, defined by our identity as the Disciples of Christ and our Spirit-guided interpretation of Scripture as a fellowship of believers. We strive to maintain Christian unity beyond this human-made list of stated beliefs. 

For further study, please examine the ancient creeds of the Christian faith, i.e. the Apostles (circa ~120 AD) and Nicene (325/381 AD) Creeds.**

Click here for our full Statement of Faith


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THE NON-NEGOTIABLES:


At GCC, we believe that the Bible is clear on two practices in the church. 


- The Lord's Supper. We take communion every week together to "eat this bread and drink of this cup" in remembrance of Jesus Christ's sacrificial love. See 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and Acts 2:46. This is the continued tradition of Christians gathering worldwide for roughly 2,000 years and we believe it is a tactile and visible expression of the Good News.


- Baptism by Immersion. We offer a baptism in water, wherein an individual who has made a commitment to Christ begins the journey of obedience with the act commanded and demonstrated by Jesus himself. We submerge the new believer beneath the surface of the water so that they are symbolically buried to rise up from the grave and live a new life with Christ, empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit. See John 1:33, Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:4.


**We happily maintain fellowship with churches that take communion less frequently or those that perform other modes of baptism. They remain our siblings in Christ, despite interpreting these issues differently. **