About Grace Hill
Grace Hill is a Gospel-Centered community that is focused on Christ and His Kingdom. We are happy to interact with a wide variety of cultural, political, social perspectives because God has put us in this place and time, but we insist that our core calibration comes from Christ and his Gospel, and we are called to live a life worthy of our relationship with Him and his Gospel. (Phil 1.27, Gal 2.15, Eph 4.1-6.) We are affiliated with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Being Presbyterian gives us the advantage of a church structure that supports responsibility and accountability at multiple levels. God's Spirit speaks through a multitude of leaders. If you have questions about how all this plays out, we invite you to come visit and talk together.
It seems like these days everyone is searching for a community. But what community should they be searching for? Though we might find community in any number of places, it seems like fewer and fewer people turn to a church to find community. The reasons for this are not hard to understand: some people think that churches are hopelessly out of touch with the modern world, some think that churches are too narrow minded. Others think that while spirituality is a good thing, the institution of the church is too stuffy and too passive to maintain their interest. Many of us may have had bad church experiences growing up.
At Grace Hill, we are working to re-do, re-mix and revolutionize church, or better yet, to “mash-up” the best historic elements of church and community. Our mash-up of church and community involves two elements: Gospel and diversity.
Gospel
We believe that the Gospel of Jesus is something different from either religion or irreligion, from a conservative approach to life or a liberal one. In the story of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15, there are two brothers who are equally alienated from their father--one by breaking all the rules to get what we wants and the other by following all the rules to get what he wants. They both equally have self-saving strategies, through either self-discovery or self-protection. They equally want the father's things but not the father. But in the end it is the younger son who, in returning to his father, is embrace by his bountiful love and is with the father at the lavish party--while the elder, religious son refuses to enter the father's party, and remains outside.
Jesus wants to make very clear that there are two ways to avoid God that are different but equally self-fish. A gospel focus says that both religious and irreligious people can find life uniquely when God acts for them in his love and power, in his mercy and truth.
Diversity
At Grace Hill we believe that a community is made up of all kinds of different people, and that if a church is to be a community, it has to celebrate diversity. Grace Hill invites all kinds of diversity, but to us the most important kind of diversity is spiritual. We believe that all of us are at different places in our relationships with God, and that we are all traveling together from different vantage points in the journey of faith. Of course, we believe that our community is a good place for old-fashioned bible-believing regular church-goers. But we also believe that skeptics, people without church backgrounds, and people who are not currently active in a church community make our community more vibrant and more complete. We also intentionally make room for our children to be part of the community. So, we think that we are a good community for liberals and conservatives, fundamentalists and progressives, rich and poor, singles, families, men, women, children and just about anyone else. We only ask that you come with a sharp mind and an open heart.
It seems like these days everyone is searching for a community. But what community should they be searching for? Though we might find community in any number of places, it seems like fewer and fewer people turn to a church to find community. The reasons for this are not hard to understand: some people think that churches are hopelessly out of touch with the modern world, some think that churches are too narrow minded. Others think that while spirituality is a good thing, the institution of the church is too stuffy and too passive to maintain their interest. Many of us may have had bad church experiences growing up.
At Grace Hill, we are working to re-do, re-mix and revolutionize church, or better yet, to “mash-up” the best historic elements of church and community. Our mash-up of church and community involves two elements: Gospel and diversity.
Gospel
We believe that the Gospel of Jesus is something different from either religion or irreligion, from a conservative approach to life or a liberal one. In the story of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15, there are two brothers who are equally alienated from their father--one by breaking all the rules to get what we wants and the other by following all the rules to get what he wants. They both equally have self-saving strategies, through either self-discovery or self-protection. They equally want the father's things but not the father. But in the end it is the younger son who, in returning to his father, is embrace by his bountiful love and is with the father at the lavish party--while the elder, religious son refuses to enter the father's party, and remains outside.
Jesus wants to make very clear that there are two ways to avoid God that are different but equally self-fish. A gospel focus says that both religious and irreligious people can find life uniquely when God acts for them in his love and power, in his mercy and truth.
Diversity
At Grace Hill we believe that a community is made up of all kinds of different people, and that if a church is to be a community, it has to celebrate diversity. Grace Hill invites all kinds of diversity, but to us the most important kind of diversity is spiritual. We believe that all of us are at different places in our relationships with God, and that we are all traveling together from different vantage points in the journey of faith. Of course, we believe that our community is a good place for old-fashioned bible-believing regular church-goers. But we also believe that skeptics, people without church backgrounds, and people who are not currently active in a church community make our community more vibrant and more complete. We also intentionally make room for our children to be part of the community. So, we think that we are a good community for liberals and conservatives, fundamentalists and progressives, rich and poor, singles, families, men, women, children and just about anyone else. We only ask that you come with a sharp mind and an open heart.
