Sunday Morning at 525 Glenn Avenue
Every Sunday at 10:00 AM, the doors at Grace Community Church open for a Worship Celebration that has been the steady heartbeat of this Washington Court House congregation. First-time guests are invited to stop at the Welcome Center so someone from the church family can meet them, answer questions, and help them get connected. The service is the anchor of a busy weekly schedule that fills the rest of the week with programs for every age group, from nursery care and AWANA on Wednesday nights to teen gatherings on Sunday evenings, LIFE Groups during the week, and a thriving biblical counseling and recovery program.
Walking Through Hard Seasons at HOPE Ministries
One of the most distinctive ministries at Grace is HOPE Ministries, the church's biblical counseling program. The premise is simple: Scripture is sufficient to address all of life's problems, providing instruction, correction, encouragement, and hope for the counselee. The team helps people with a wide variety of struggles including marriage struggles, parenting issues, addictions, sexual sin, anger, depression, worry, financial problems, and many others.
Sessions are free of charge, though a $25 deposit is required to protect the volunteer counselors' time; the deposit is returned when a counselee graduates or leaves the program without canceling. Most counselees attend weekly sessions for 10 to 14 weeks, though some situations take more or fewer meetings. Counselors commit to strict confidentiality except when biblical requirements call for outside help, and they ask counselees in turn to be truthful, arrive on time with completed homework, and give the process enough time to take root. Appointments can be scheduled by calling the church office, emailing HOPE Ministries, or mailing a completed personal data information form to PO Box 503 in Washington Court House.
Hope Recovery for Addictions and Their Families
Hope Recovery extends that same biblical approach specifically to men and women dealing with addiction. The men's group meets twice a week - Sunday mornings at 8:00 AM and Wednesday evenings at 5:30 PM - and is part of the Champions Network organized by The Refuge, which helps men build meaningful relationships in Christ across the community. A separate track exists for women seeking a recovery plan rooted in the love of Jesus Christ, and a third track ministers to family members and friends of addicts who are living with the painful consequences of a loved one's life-controlling problem. Volunteer leaders coordinate each of the three groups.
Grace Kids and Wednesday Night AWANA
Children are central to life at Grace. On Sunday mornings, families begin the Worship Celebration together in the main sanctuary; children are then dismissed to classrooms where teachers walk them through the Answers in Genesis curriculum, which presents the gospel beginning in Genesis and trains young believers to know, obey, and defend God's Word. A staffed nursery and a 2's and 3's class are available for children starting at 9:45 AM.
On Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, September through April, the church runs the AWANA program. Puggles (ages 2-3), Cubbies (ages 3-5), Sparks (K-2), Truth and Training (3rd-6th), and TREK (7th-8th) all meet for Bible memory, games, and a clear weekly presentation of the gospel. Sarah Haldeman coordinates the children's ministry and can be reached through the church office.
Grace Rev for Teens
Middle and high school students gather for Grace Rev on Sunday nights from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. Between the Grace Rev Room, the Cafe, and the gymnasium, the teens cycle through games, fellowship, and Bible study. Pastor Josh Miller oversees the ministry, and a blanket permission slip covers students for the off-site activities that punctuate the year.
LIFE Groups and the Grace Institute
For adults, LIFE Groups are the small-group backbone of the church. The premise is that discipleship flourishes in a community of believers who consistently rub shoulders together, learn from one another, and push each other to grow in faith. Group members talk about life together, pray together, and help one another move beyond Bible knowledge into life application, so that transformation into the image of Christ becomes more visible in everyday life. Interested believers are invited to contact Pastor Paul.
The Grace Institute and ongoing Grace Classes provide additional training and teaching for those who want to dig deeper. Right Now Media - a free library of more than 10,000 Bible studies, conference sessions, training videos, and children's resources - is available to anyone connected to the church, along with a discipleship series called "At The Table" produced by the church's pastors. Sunday sermons are also recorded and posted so the congregation can watch at their convenience.
Senior Saints Around Coffee and Sweets
Adults 55 and older meet as the Senior Saints on the first and third Thursdays of each month, September through May, at 9:30 AM in the Cafe. Coffee and sweets are part of the regular rhythm, and the gatherings give older members a steady touchpoint for fellowship throughout the year.
Reaching Out: A Global Missions Family
Grace Community Church supports a sizable group of missionaries around the world through monthly giving. The current roster includes Drew and Michele Brown serving in Costa Rica, Walid and Rema Bitar in Ottawa, Kent and Kelly Craig in an Asia/Pacific field, Kelly and Debby McMaster in Brazil, Erin Wawro in Brazil, Jami and Mandy Smith, Caleb and Charity Gibbs in Jamaica, Alejandro and Robyn Armijo in Chile, and Skylar Perin in Taiwan. A Missions committee within the church oversees these partnerships.
What Grace Believes
The doctrinal statement of Grace Community Church is detailed and direct. The church teaches that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are verbally inspired by God, inerrant in the original writings, and the final authority for faith and life. There is one God existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created the world in six days, and Adam's sin brought the whole world into a state of falling short of God's glory. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who took on human nature to die as a perfect and sinless substitute on the cross. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of eternal life are received by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. Christ was physically raised from the grave, now intercedes for believers, and has given the Holy Spirit to indwell, fill, sanctify, and seal those who have been born again. The church teaches that Christians are called to fellowship and serve within a local body while awaiting the blessed hope of Christ's return for His bride.
The mission of the church flows from those beliefs: to glorify God by building biblical relationships with God, with one another, and with neighbors so that the community might reflect Christ. The church describes that work in three directions - upward (relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ), inward (relationships within the local body of believers), and outward (relationships with those who do not yet know Christ, sharing the gospel as Christ's ambassadors).
Visiting and Getting Connected
Grace Community Church meets at 525 Glenn Avenue in Washington Court House, Ohio. Sunday worship begins at 10:00 AM, with the Welcome Center ready to greet newcomers. The church office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and the staff can be reached at 740-333-5433. Gifts can be given during the worship service, dropped off at the office, mailed to PO Box 503, WCH, OH 43160, or made online. Sunday sermons are recorded each week and made available to watch on demand, and the full doctrinal statement can be downloaded for those who want to read the church's positions in greater detail.