What to Expect on a Typical Sunday Morning

The Schedule
Our worship services are at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. We have evening meetings approximately 25 times a year. The evening meetings are of various formats including members meetings, musical presentations and other special occasions. During the summer months we enjoy one picnic lunch each month at the neighboring park following the 11:00 a.m. service. Everyone is welcome.

The Order of Worship Services
Open our Worship Planners to get a sense of what to expect and to prepare yourself for worship. We post these planners every Friday for the upcoming Sunday. Our services typically last 90 minutes. Before every service you will see a Scripture passage for meditation on a screen along with a piano prelude. We encourage worshippers to use this time for contemplative preparation.

The goal of our services is to exalt God (who is the subject and object of our worship), meet with Him and hear His voice. Our services are characterized by joyful and passionate corporate singing, God-centeredness and the solemn contemplation of the Bible and its contemporary implications. They are structured around a few different orders of worship (liturgies) that emphasize the person of Jesus Christ and encourage congregational participation rather than a performance mindset. Individual elements include a call to worship, songs, prayer, unison and responsive readings, offering, and preaching.

Preaching at GBC is Christ-centered and expositional, meaning that it seeks to declare the point of a passage from its historical context and demonstrate its connection to the person and work of Jesus Christ. During the preaching time it is our conviction that God Himself speaks and acts upon us. It is our prayer that you will feel a sense of His presence.

We traditionally partake of the Lord's Supper (Communion) on the second Sunday of the month and every fifth Sunday as well. There is always an opportunity for individuals to pray with a pastor or another church leader after each service. You will find people congregating long after the service enjoying a conversation about the message, a cup of coffee or browsing books at our book table.

Style
GBC worship services are a blend of formal and common, contemporary and traditional. It saddens us that many churches have divided over debates regarding musical "style." We are humbly grateful that we have enjoyed unity of heart and mind in our patterns of worship. For more information regarding our understanding of worship click here.

Childcare
You will find infant and childcare, through age three, available during both services. (We encourage preschool children & up to attend worship services with their parents. Click here for suggestions on helping your child worship.) There are Children's Education classes up through 6th grade during the 1st hour and offered for all ages during the second hour.

Parking
If you are a first time visitor, our hope is that you will easily find parking in the north or south parking lots. However, the south lot has very few stalls so we encourage you to park in the north lot. There you will find a few stalls delegated to first-time visitors. You will find several stalls in front of the office complex for handicapped persons and seniors. Should the lot be full, there is more than adequate off-site parking to accommodate our worship attenders. You may park at the Senior Center parking lot just west of the park on Gregory Lane as well as on the street on Gregory and Cleaveland. However, we ask that you respect our neighbors by not parking on S. Cody Lane. You can also consult the printable map of the campus with all parking locations designated.

Getting Acquainted
When you visit, please stop by our Welcome Table after each worship service. For individuals seeking to discover more about us, we also offer a Getting Acquainted with Grace class every Sunday, during the first service. This is an informal, non-sequential, 8 week cycle of classes for newcomers to GBC.

Special Needs
We try to accommodate individuals needing hearing assistance. Please ask an usher for a listening assistance device.

For more information about these services or any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.