For a more detailed examination of our Ministry Distinctives, please visit Distinctives in Detail.

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Ministry Distinctives

     Our ministry has but one Head, Jesus Christ.  Eph.1:22-23 states that God put “all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  The church is Christ’s church and is subject to Him (Eph. 5:23-24).  He is the Chief Shepherd.  All those in leadership at Grace Bible are merely under-shepherds.  

I.        The Purpose of our Ministry: Glorifying God 

The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief and highest end of man?”^[i]  Its answer stands as the ultimate priority for man.  “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, (Rom. 11:36, Cor. 10:31) and fully to enjoy him forever (Ps. 73:24–28, John 17:21–23).”^[ii]  Jesus, Himself, lived His life solely to the glory of His Father (John 8:50) and was willing to do the Father’s will at any cost (John 12:27-28).  Every follower of Jesus is commanded to do likewise by doing everything for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Pet. 2:21).  Not only does each individual fulfill his purpose when living to the glory of God, but the church also fulfills its purpose when it lives for God’s glory (Eph. 3:21).  So, when anyone asks  “For what ultimate purpose does Grace Bible Church exist?” he or she can only come up with one over-arching biblical answer and that is to glorify God.  Our church glorifies God by giving Him glory through His Word, in worship, by going, making and teaching disciples, and by growing spiritually and giving spiritually. 

A.   Glorifying God through His Word

Jesus Christ is the Word incarnate.  He is revealed to us in the written Word of God, the Bible.  Hence, our ministry is and must be biblically-based.  As Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). 

The Bible is God's written revelation to man, and thus the 66 books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired equally in all parts) Word of God (1 Cor. 2:7-14; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21). And, the Word of God is an objective, propositional revelation (1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 2:13), verbally inspired in every word (2 Tim. 3:16), absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, and God-breathed.  Hence, God is glorified most when these truths are acknowledged and acted upon directly in every aspect of our ministry (e.g. John 17:7 by Jesus Himself!).  The inerrant word of God demands the expository preaching (i.e. explanatory preaching) of Scripture, book-by-book, paragraph-by-paragraph, verse-by-verse, phrase-by-phrase, etc. The inerrant word of God demands biblical counseling, biblical music, etc.  God is glorified most when our ministry flows out of His word, and, hence, flows out of God, Himself.

At Grace Bible we place a tremendous emphasis on our ministry through the Word.  This is foundation of our ministry.  Everything we do is based on feeding the flock a regular, fully nutritional diet of the Word of God, verse-by-verse, precept-by-precept as God intended it to be taught.  Our body will not grow to healthy maturity without starting with a proper diet.  One has to KNOW the word of God –entirely and exactly for each precept – in order to APPLY the word of God in his or her life.  As one person commented about our teaching, “It’s hard to take notes because everything taught is biblical and important!”

B.   Glorifying God through Worship 

What is worship?  John MacArthur writes in his book, The Ultimate Priority, 

“We began…with this definition: worship is honor and adoration directed to God. Throughout this study, the concept has expanded, so that perhaps a fuller definition is appropriate: worship is our innermost being responding with praise for all that God is, through our attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words, based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself. Another way to say it is that worship is glorifying God. To be wholly obsessed with the glory of God is the consuming passion of the true worshiper, who lives to exalt God.”^[iii]

Glorifying God must be the worshiper’s conscious, considered, continual and central spiritual service of worship. 

At Grace Bible we worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Worship is our biblical response with praise for all that God is, through our attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words.  This worshipful attitude pervades everything we do.  Knowing that Romans 11:36 tells us that all things are from Him and through Him and for Him, we are ever-mindful that He gave it all so that we might live eternally and so all the glory is His, not ours. Our goal is to live a life of living sacrifice that is an acceptable spiritual service of worship in response to all that God has done for us! 

C.  Glorifying God By Going, Making and Teaching Disciples 

Matt. 28:18-20 emphasizes the aspect of making, baptizing, and teaching disciples as the primary thrust of evangelism.  These are commands to all Christians.  Hence, this is a primary task of the entire church.  In addition, these commands are to be carried out both through local outreach and personal evangelism (“Go” of Matt. 28:19) and through missions (“all the nations” of  Matt. 28:19 and Luke 24:47).  Jesus, Himself, demonstrated His own command at the personal, local level as He discipled Joseph of Arimathea (Matt 27:57).^[iv]  

At Grace Bible it is a priority to carry out God’s command to evangelize and to provide evangelism and discipleship training.  Our evangelism training removes the barriers to sharing the gospel and answering questions and objections.  We hold one another accountable to active evangelism because God commands us to be His witnesses on earth. The most exciting and best church growth is through new believers!

D.  Glorifying God By Growing Spiritually and Using Spiritual Gifts

At Grace Bible, we know that Christ holds us accountable for the edification of His flock.  As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And He [Christ] gave… some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13).  This is why our ministry of the Word of God is such a high priority.  “Equipping” (Ephesians 4:11) means to lead from sin to obedience and the Word of God is the key to doing this.  You grow spiritually when you put off sinful behaviors and put on godly behaviors. 

We also know that the Holy Spirit will raise up the ministries He desires to have at Grace Bible.  He gives each person at least one spiritual gift at the time of their salvation (1Corinthians 12:11) and we encourage you and equip you to use your spiritual gifts as God intended.

II.      The Bottom Line for our Ministry