Grace Covenant Church of Virginia Beach
church distinctives
Church Distinctives
1) We believe in God-centered worship. Worship is the priority of God and is to be the passion of His people. Biblical worship comes from the heart and is grounded in truth. The word of God determines how God is to be worshipped. The church should be committed to worship that is defined by and consistent with the Bible.
2) We believe in consecutive, expository preaching. Expository preaching involves the public reading, explanation and application of Scripture. We desire to “expose the text” rather than impose our personal opinions on the text. Our norm is consecutive, expository preaching in which the elder’s preach through a book of the Bible from beginning to end. This gives the preaching ministry a biblical balance. This method also gives the people the opportunity to see “the whole “ of a book over a period of time in order to gain a better understanding.
3) We affirm God’s sovereignty in Salvation. Salvation is wholly a work of God. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. God planned salvation “before time began” and elected certain undeserving sinners to life eternal. God sent His Son Christ Jesus into the world to save those sinners by His righteous life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection. The sovereignty of God in salvation does not negate the responsibility of men to repent and believe or to share the gospel in fact God’s sovereignty is the motive for such.
4) We believe the church should be ruled by a plurality of elders under the Headship of Christ. We believe that there are two offices in the church, elder and deacon. The elders focus is on the ministry of the Word, shepherding, ruling and prayer. While each elder has specific gifts and abilities, no one elder has more authority than the others. The deacons are helpers and to focus primarily on benevolence, stewardship of the church property, and church finances.
5) We believe in the practice of church discipline. Christ wants His church to be pure from sin, error and division. We believe in the regular oversight in the life of the church members by the elders in the church.
6) We believe the church should be evangelistic. We should seek to proclaim the gospel at every worship service. The church should encourage people to get to know their friends, neighbors and co-workers and find opportunities to invite them to church and share the gospel with them. We also desire to reach out to the community around us and share the gospel with them and invite them to church. We desire to support missions and to be actively involved in the lives of our missionaries.
7) We believe there should be a strong emphasis on the family in the local church. We believe strong families are foundational to strong churches and a strong nation. Families (which include singles, widows, divorcées, and grandparents) are God’s building block of the church. We believe that the church is not to take the place of the family but to equip them for the task God intended. We desire to train husbands to be godly, spiritual leaders in their homes and to equip parents to raise godly sons and daughters to the glory of God.