About Us
Our Story
In 2008, we started as a small living room prayer group while our tiny kids ran around in the backyard. We moved to the upper room of a guest house in Healdsburg the following spring and incorporated music and Bible study into our times together. With more kids than adults, we launched our first children’s program, and kids have been the center of our church family ever since. By 2010, we began having services at the Healdsburg Community Center where we met to worship until COVID moved us to the beautiful gardens at the historic Villa Chanticleer. In the spring of 2022, we took up residence in our current location. Come gather with us at the home of the Healdsburg SDA Church: 429 Terrace Blvd.
Our Mission
The goal of Grace Community Church is to build a strong and united Christian community through the power of the Holy Spirit, seeking to transform Sonoma County and the world.
Our Vision
We want to be a simple church community, emphasizing the foundational functions of the Church with the goal of equipping the saints for ministry and service. Thus, priority is given to prayer, worshiping God, teaching and studying God’s Word, discipleship, fostering a strong, loving, and supportive fellowship of believers, and proclaiming Christ’s Kingdom in our daily lives.
“We do not want merely to see beauty. Though God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”
Our Values
Truth
Our vision requires humble obedience and dependence on God, recognizing Christ as the head of the Church. Our body is shaped by the central truths of the Christian faith: God is sovereign. Sin and rebellion from God is our core problem. Jesus is our one hope, the only answer. The Bible is true. Heaven and Hell are real.
Unity
We are united by our faith as one body in Christ, through His reconciling sacrifice and our authentic relationship with Him. We recognize our unity with both the historic Christian church, valuing and building upon its contributions, and with the global church, seeking to partner with it in reaching our broken world with the love of Jesus Christ.
Prayer
We desire to be a people of prayer, regularly seeking God’s will and direction in our lives, giving Him praise, and interceding for individuals, for our church family, and for the world around us.
Worship
We want to worship together in a way that fosters reverence, awe, joyful celebration, and heartfelt praise to God. We do not seek to be entertained, but rather, to corporately recognize and adore His complete and holy character.
Local /Global Perspective
As a church, we want to transform Healdsburg, Sonoma County and the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our towns, neighborhoods, schools, sports teams, places of work, and other social endeavors should be impacted for and by God’s Kingdom as we live in our community. Furthermore, we maintain a global perspective, recognizing the calling to heal our broken world through making disciples of all peoples, standing for justice, feeding the hungry, and caring for the marginalized and oppressed.
Missional
While remaining faithful to unchanging Biblical truths, we seek to be relevant to our culture, building a recognizable Christian presence in Healdsburg and northern Sonoma County by sharing the love of God in our actions and words.
Priesthood of All Believers
We believe all Christians are gifted by the Holy Spirit and are to be involved as ministers in the life of the church and in service to the world.
Children
We are committed to raising our children to know and love Jesus Christ. Thus, vibrant, relevant, Christ-centered children’s and youth programs are a priority as we desire to see our children develop their own faith and identity within the Kingdom of God.
Community
We place tremendous importance on authentic, Christ-centered relationships, because this is clearly taught by Jesus and in scripture. Thus, all believers are encouraged to participate in the life of the church, working hard to create a healthy community. This is accomplished by participating in small groups, having meaningful relationships, meeting each others’ needs, holding each other accountable, and encouraging one another towards spiritual maturity.
Our Beliefs
Our beliefs are rooted in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
The following summary of the doctrinal beliefs of GCC is subscribed to by the leaders of the church but is not required of those worshipping or seeking the Lord with us. We believe that the Christian faith is a progressive, individually unique process in which we are all at different places. Wherever you are in this process, you are welcome to fellowship with us.
WE BELIEVE . . .
Scripture
The Bible, the Old and New Testaments in their original writings, is the inspired Word of God, is without error, and is the supreme and final authority for faith and life.
God
There is only one living and true God, eternally existing in three distinct, harmonious persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father is eternal, sent Jesus Christ in bodily form, and created mankind for the express purpose of fellowship with us as His children, who are to bring glory and praise to His name.
Jesus Christ, the only eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, becoming fully human without ceasing to be fully God.
The Holy Spirit is God, sent to reveal and glorify Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, living in the believer, is the proof guaranteeing our spiritual inheritance in Jesus Christ. Providing gifts to all believers, He indwells, guides, teaches and empowers them. He convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness and the judgment to come.
The Fallen State of Man
Mankind was created in the image of God; he sinned and thereby suffered not only physical death, but spiritual death, resulting in separation from God. Henceforth, all human beings are born with this sinful nature.
Redemption and Salvation
Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life on earth, voluntarily gave His life as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, was buried, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of the Father as Lord, uniquely satisfying the just requirement of God for death as the penalty for sin. All who believe in Jesus Christ are forever reconciled to God solely through His death and resurrection.
Man’s Responsibility to God
People are reconciled to God when, by God’s immeasurable grace, through faith, not works, they repent of their sin, recognizing Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior.
The Christian’s Responsibility
All who place their faith in Jesus Christ are regenerated spiritually by the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God. All believers, while still capable of sin and not pleasing God, learn to rely upon the indwelling Holy Spirit’s power and love, and thus glorify and please God. Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ are to demonstrate obedience to Christ’s example through participation in baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The Church
All who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into the united body of Christ on earth: The Church. The primary arena where Christians are to grow spiritually, worship, and fellowship with other believers is the local church. The local church community should meet together in ways that encourage sharing, accountability, dependence, fellowship, and spiritual nurturing in each other’s lives. All Christians are ministers, gifted by the Holy Spirit, and are to be involved in ministry in the life of the Church and the world, striving to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.
The Future
Jesus Christ will physically return to this earth to bring completion to His Kingdom. All men and women, including the dead who will be resurrected, will face the righteous judgment of God, the redeemed to eternal life and ultimate joy in the presence of God and the unredeemed to everlasting punishment and separation from God.