Membership Matters: Session 2
Session 2
Our History, Purpose, & Core Values
Our History
In the spring of 2009, God stirred the hearts of two families in Sallisaw to start a Bible Study in their
homes in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Little did they know what God was about to do. In another part of
the state, unbeknown to them, God had been stirring the hearts of pastor Jarrod and his wife Sara
to plant a church in Oklahoma. Without ever having met each other, God, through His providence,
introduced the Poindexters & the Prices to Jarrod & Sara that spring. During that first meeting,
each family shared the vision of what God had laid on their hearts, and it was obvious from the
beginning that God was calling them all to plant what is now known as Grace Church! Shortly after
this decision, other families joined in this endeavor to plant a church for the glory of God. Today,
we are still in awe of what God is accomplishing at Grace Church.
Our Purpose
Grace Church exists to equip God’s people to delight in His glory and to declare that glory to our
neighbors and to the nations!
Our Ten Core Values
Core Values are the convictions and priorities that guide the actions of any given church, and reflect
what a church considers important. At Grace Church, we believe the most important Core Values
are those that are based upon Scripture. Although it is not exhaustive, we have compiled a list
below of those core values that we believe are Biblical and essential for cultivating a healthy church.
The Ten Core Values of Grace Church
1. God's Glory is Central – Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that, “whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew
5:16). From verses like these, it is clear that as Christians, our ultimate purpose in life should
be to see God glorified.
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2. God-Centered Worship – As we have just seen from our first core value, God’s glory must
be central in everything we do at Grace Church. One of the areas we seek to do this is
through our worship. Worship that is not centered on God is not worship, and it is idolatry.
As Christians the focus of our worship never should be on us, instead our focus should be on
God. This means that our worship isn’t about our experience. Instead, it is about bowing
our hearts in praise, in awe, and in
reverence to God as we worship in Spirit
and Truth (Heb. 12:28; John 4:24).
3. Sound Doctrine – We believe that the Bible
is our authority, so we seek to honor God
through expressing a commitment to sound
doctrine in the following ways:
“The basic task of the church is to
teach sound doctrine. It is not to give
one pastor's opinion, to recite tearjerking illustrations that play on
emotions, to raise funds, to present
programs and entertainment, or to
give weekly devotionals. In Titus 2:1
Paul writes, "But as for you, speak the
things which are fitting for sound
doctrine."
a) By Preaching the Word of God
“I charge you in the presence of God
and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge
the living and the dead, and by his
John MacArthur
appearing and his kingdom: preach
the word; be ready in season and
out of season; reprove, rebuke, and
exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to
the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure
suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5).
b) By Studying the Word of God
“The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when
they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble
than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining
the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:10-11).
c) By Applying the Word of God
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).
d) By Singing the Word of God
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the
Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody to the Lord with all your heart” (Ephesians 5:18-19).
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e) By Counseling Others From the Bible (Biblical Counseling)
By Biblical Counseling, we mean that the Bible is authoritative and sufficient to
counsel the problems we face in life… While acknowledging that the psychological
disciplines offer insights into human personality, we would strongly believe that
Bible alone is sufficient for counseling us with the problems we face in life. In fact,
on several occasions, Paul challenged ordinary believers to counsel one another
from the Bible. In Colossians 3:16a Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,” and in Romans 15:14
he said, “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of
goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” For Paul, he
knew that God’s Word was sufficient for counseling the troubled soul.
Therefore, flowing out of our commitment to Scripture, we believe that counseling
isn’t to be left up to “the professionals,” but every believer has a responsibility to
administer the word to one another, and that that elders/pastors are to take the
lead as a model for the congregation to imitate.
f) By Proclaiming the Gospel
The gospel is doctrine. Therefore, sound doctrine is necessary for evangelism.
g) By Making Disciples
Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). Christians
grow by learning and living in light of the truth—in other words, by sound doctrine.
h) By Providing Biblical Resources
In our commitment to sound doctrine, we are passionate about equipping Christians
with the truth that they might become radical Disciples of Christ. Some of the ways
we do this is through our website (www.gcgans.org  resources) and our church
library.
i)
By Guarding Ourselves Against Impassioned Orthodoxy
Scripture warns us against obtaining biblical knowledge only for the sake of having
more knowledge. As 1 Corinthians 8:1b has pointed out, “Knowledge puffs up, but
love builds up.” Instead of pursuing sound doctrine for the sake of having right
beliefs and gaining more knowledge, we seek to gain more biblical knowledge to
increase our love for God. In other words, doctrine is not the end goal, God is. So,
instead of obtaining more knowledge for the sake of knowledge (impassioned
orthodoxy), we seek more biblical knowledge so we will know Him better, and so
our hearts will grow in its affections for him.
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Membership Matters: Session 2
4. A Biblical Understanding of the Gospel and Conversion – In regards to the Gospel, a biblical
understanding of the gospel is important because the gospel is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes, and it
is the only way for sinful people to be
reconciled to a holy God. Not only has that,
We cannot pursue biblical knowledge just
but everything in a church flows from its
to grow in knowledge. Understanding
understanding of the gospel, whether
doctrine isn’t the goal. Loving God and
preaching, counseling, discipleship, music,
living in a way that pleases Him need to
evangelism, missions, etc.
be our aims. Knowledge tends to puff us
up (1 Cor. 8:1-2), but a genuine
relationship with God with a true
knowledge of His character and love will
keep us humble (Isa. 6:5; Ps. 8:3-4).
In regards to conversion, a biblical
understanding of conversion is important
because it clarifies how Christians should
exhort non-Christians to repent of sin and
trust in Christ, how they must rely upon
God in all of their evangelistic efforts;
because only God can save a person, and
how their own lives should be marked by the fruit of conversion.
Karl Graustein
The truth is, a biblical understanding of conversion teaches us to recognize that only God
can give life to those who are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:5), that God alone gives sight to the
blind (2 Cor. 4:3-6), that He alone gifts of faith and repentance (Phil. 1:29; Acts 11:18) so
that individuals can respond to the biblical gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4) by repenting of
sin and trusting in Christ.
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism – It is quite possible to have a zeal for evangelism
without the right message. Mark Dever says in his book, The Deliberate Church, states that
“some evangelism strategies seek to make the Gospel attractive to unbelievers by fronting
all the benefits of Christianity and saving the costs for later. They promise that you’ll
experience more satisfaction, less stress, a better sense of community, and an increased
sense of meaning in life – and you’ll be prepared for eternity to boot! – if you’ll just make a
decision for Christ right now. Perhaps all of these things are right around the corner for the
listening believer. Yet what does this kind of “benefit evangelism” do to the biblical
Gospel? It makes the Gospel appear to be all about me and improving my lifestyle and
making me happier. Now, granted, we are the beneficiaries and God is the
benefactor. We’re not the ones “doing God a favor” by becoming Christians. Yet the
Gospel is not ultimately about me. It is about God’s glory, and gathering worshipers for
Himself who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is about vindicating His holiness by
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punishing Christ for the sins of all those who repent and believe. It is about making a name
for Himself in the world by gathering a people and separating them to Himself for the
spread of His fame to the nations.”
Therefore, at Grace Church, our goal isn’t to give a sales pitch to the lost as described in
Dever’s book, but to declare the gospel message that God commands men everywhere to
obey. Without a biblical understanding of the gospel, we don’t evangelize, we evangelize in
misleading or manipulative ways, or we share a message that’s not the gospel . . . and that is
dangerous.
6. Biblical Preaching – Biblical preaching is essential to the health and wellbeing of the local
church; for it is through the preached word that God reproves, rebukes, and exhorts His
church (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2). To accomplish this we are committed to expository preaching. This
means that we take the main point of a passage of Scripture, we make it the main point,
and we apply it to our life. This type of preaching is important because God’s Word is what
convicts, converts, builds up, and sanctifies God’s people (Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:23; 1 Thess.
2:13; Jn. 17:17). Also, it keeps the main point of the sermon God’s agenda rather than the
preachers.
7. Biblical Church Leadership – The Bible teaches in a number of places, such as Acts 14:23,
Acts 20:17, 1 Timothy 4:14, 1 Timothy 5:17, and James 5:14, that each local church should
be led by a plurality of godly, qualified men called elders/pastors. In order to fulfill this role
in the church, God has laid out qualifications for these men in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:59. The purpose for God giving these men to the church is so that they might:
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Feed His God’s sheep God’s Word (Jn. 21:15-17),
guide the sheep (1 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 5:3, Heb. 13:7),
protect the sheep from attackers (Acts 20:27-29; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Tit. 1:9),
while protecting both themselves and the church through the wisdom of their
plurality (Prov. 11:14; 24:6).
The bottom line is that Biblical church leadership is important because without it, God’s
people are like sheep without shepherds.
8. Meaningful Church Membership – According to the Bible, church membership is a
commitment every Christian should make to attend, love, serve, and submit to a local
church. Biblical church membership is important because the church presents God’s witness
to himself in the world. It displays his glory. In the church’s membership, then, nonChristians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and
that his gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners.
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Membership Matters: Session 2
(See Session 1 for more information about church membership)
9. Christian Discipleship and Growth - Scripture teaches us that as Christians we are to
constantly to be growing in our faith (2 Pet. 1:8-10), in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, in the knowledge of God’s Word, in our prayer life, in our worship, in our
devotion to God, in holiness, and the list goes on. We must grow because we are unfinished
products, and until we die we will not be complete. To foster this growth God has given
Christians the church (i.e., other believers), which has a variety of spiritual gifts that are to
be used to build one another up as they see the Day approaching (Heb. 3:13). If a church
neglects discipleship, immaturity will abound, and the church will yield an unhealthy witness
to the world.
Accoring to Scripture, all Christians should grow in Christ, imitate other godly Christians, and
encourage others in their growth in Christlikeness.
10. Biblical Church Life – At Grace Church we believe that the Bible calls for believers to pursue
and to develop authentic relationships among the “family of God.” We were never called to
be individuals as Christians but we are many members who make up one body (1 Cor. 12).
As brothers and sisters in Christ, God has gifted each of us in a unique way so that we might
serve one another for the purpose of building each other up in the Christian faith.
Therefore, as members of Grace Church we will seek to:
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Encourage one another day after day in our battle against attitudes of unbelief that
arise in our hearts to steal our joy in God (cf., Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:23-25);
Build up one another in faith through the use of spiritual gifts that God freely
distributes to His body as He wills for the purpose of edification, so that we might
become mature in Christ (cf., Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 14: 12, 26;
Hebrews 2:4); and
Pursue our joy in God through the multiplication of worshipers for the glory of God
in our community and beyond.
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