Our Vision

Equipping students to Pursue God, Connect with the Church, and Engage the World

At Grace Church, we want our students to clearly understand our vision for their lives. We are convinced that openly stating our hopes and dreams for them will greatly benefit their growth. During their transitional years in our ministry, we want them to mature spiritually (Eph. 2:4, Heb. 6:1). Our goal is to see them develop into young men and women of godly character as we equip them to do 3 things:

Pursue God

The Scriptures clearly state that a personal, active relationship with God is attainable through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Because of Jesus, the gap between Creator and creation has been closed, and we are now able to seek God. In order to foster such relationships, we want our students to be moving towards God in the following ways:

  • Regularly listening to the preached Word of God
  • Study, meditate on, and memorize the Scriptures
  • Understand and articulate the gospel
  • Know the “big” story of the Bible (Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration)
  • Develop a dependence on God through individual and corporate prayer
  • Worship God in various ways (music, journaling, reading, studying, etc.)

Connect with the Church

The local church is the avenue Jesus chose to take the gospel to the world. The church is where we corporately worship, commune, teach, encourage, and equip each other for the work of ministry. We believe that students are an integral part of the church and should be integrated in various areas including:

  • Attend adult worship
  • Give financially to the church
  • Be involved in a small group
  • Serve the church with their time and gifts
  • Identify spiritual gifts and talents

Engage the world

Before leaving earth Jesus commissioned his followers to spread the gospel throughout the world (Acts 1:8). We believe it is the responsibility of all Christians to live missionally. This means we are to proclaim and live the gospel to everyone everywhere. Whether it’s their families, neighbors, friends, or strangers, we hope that our students will love with the power of the gospel. The Scriptures teach that God wants to use us to reach all people (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Romans 10:14-15). In response to this, we believe that our students should live out the Gospel in the following ways:

  • Build relationships with friends, neighbors, and classmates
  • Spread the good news to those who don’t know Christ
  • Participate in service projects and mission trips
  • Pray for and give money/time towards partnerships in Greenville and around the world

Our goals as leaders

As a ministry, we believe that in order for our students to pursue God, connect with the Church, and engage the world, as God has called them to do, we as pastors and leaders must do the following three things:

  1. Partner with parents. We believe the responsibility of discipleship begins within the family (Deut. 6:4-7, Eph. 6:4). By partnering with parents, our goal is to support God’s design of the family structure by re-enforcing what should be taught and modeled in the home.
  2. Develop meaningful relationships. We believe that life change best takes place in the context of relationships. For students, relationships are ultimate. Our goal is to create environments where they develop critical relationships with adult leaders and other students.
  3. Love with the gospel. We believe that the gospel is of most importance! (1 Cor. 15:3). Through preaching, teaching, speaking, loving, and living, everything we do is soaked in the gospel. In a culture that is constantly pushing and pulling teens towards worldliness, we believe that Jesus is the only anchor sufficient for their souls.