Grace Abounding

Our Leadership Team is excited to be attending and speaking at the Church Planting Conference at Heritage Bible Church on February 21-24, 2010, in Greer, SC. You’re especially invited to a panel discussion about church planting with our elders & deacons and their families on Sunday night at 7 pm. Throughout the week we’ll be reporting back to our supporting church the work God is doing in changing us and planting a church in the Washington D.C. Metro region. Interested in learning more about church planting? Considering joining a church plant? Want to hear how you can pray for our Gospel ministry? Join us at the conference!

In addition to hearing from other churches planted by Heritage, Grace Church of Alexandria’s team will be participating in the following events:

• Visual Presentation on Church Planting in Alexandria, Virginia. A keynote slide presentation during evening worship. Sunday, 5:30 pm.
• Ministry Prospects Fellowship. GCA Leadership Team panel discussion on our experience joining and serving in a church plant. Sunday, 7 pm.
• Technology & the Gospel. A roundtable discussion on using technology for ministry. Monday, 1 pm.
• Making Disciples: The Marvel of Church Planting. A talk on the essentials of church planting. The idea? Gospel + Relationships = Growth. Monday, 7 pm.
• A Slice of Life. Christy Matías shares on church planting from a woman’s perspective. Tues, 10 am.
• Christ Our King in Church Planting. A devotional on Gospel ministry. Wed, Feb 24, 10 am.

Click here to see a .pdf with the full schedule of events.

Join us as we meet together to share ideas, pray together, and hear how God is displaying his glory by starting churches that live out the Gospel. Have questions about the conference? Contact us here. The conference is free; lunches & dinner are provided at Heritage for just $3.00. We’re delighted that our friend and pastor in Alexandria, Brad Lapiska, will be preaching at Grace Church of Alexandria while we’re away.

One year ago this month Grace Church of Alexandria hosted our launch service and began meeting publicly in the city of Alexandria. My wife Christy and I along with a core group of 14 others began meeting in November 2007, gearing up to start Grace Church. Then in September 2008 we launched a web site, invited our neighbors & friends, put up dozens of yard signs, and hung Grace Church posters in the city. Since that time, we’re amazed to see Christ forging a closely-knit church family from the varied individuals and families He has gathered to be Grace Church of Alexandria.

We’re Growing!

We have grown numerically, for we have about 60 people who regularly attend or have joined as members. An average Sunday brings about 45 worshipers to Samuel Tucker Elementary School where we meet. Particularly, God has faithfully nurtured and grown our congregation in spiritual growth and unity of the Spirit. I’m thrilled to see the friendships springing up, which are focused on helping each other see and savor Christ.

A Diverse Group

When you visit, you’ll find a a diverse group – vibrant believers who are Ethiopian, Japanese, Korean, Caucasian, African-American, and me, a pastor with Hispanic roots. We’ve been able to minister to Congressional interns who are here for  just six months, business people who are always traveling internationally, military families from the Marines, Navy, and Army, coffee shop baristas, and even a family of a major league baseball team player! We are residents of Alexandria, Arlington, Washington D.C., Springfield, Manassas, Quantico, Maryland, and Fairfax.

An Ever-Changing Congregation

The transience and mobility of residents in the Washington D.C. area poses challenges for starting a stable & mature congregation. Many families are posted here for one or two years for their military or government jobs. We don’t mind the turn-over, for it allows us to equip families to live by the Gospel and carry this God-centered way of living to the ends of the earth. One family has been called to a several-year stint teaching English in China, representing the King. Another has gone on to pastor a Gospel preaching church in Ohio.

Thank You

To all of you who financially give to Grace Church of Alexandria and to Jonathan & Christy Matías as missionary church planters, thank you! The Gospel is advancing inside the beltway of Washington D.C.! Your investment of prayer and finances is enabling us to baptize & disciple believers, herald the Gospel which brings life, and display the glory of God in our nation’s capital. We continue to rely on the gracious support of churches and friends to minister here.

You’re Invited

If you’ve never visited Grace Church, please be our guest! We endeavor to be a Christian church with a love for our community, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and each other. We seek to faithfully preach the Word of God as inerrant and true, words which bring life and hope. We constantly keep our gaze on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for there we find the power and grace of God to live for God each day. It is our prayer that in 2009 God will allow us to lead neighbors, co-workers, and friends to faith & repentance in Christ. Come join us as we build a new community for God’s praise together in the Washington D.C. metro region.

During the last week of July our church focused seven days on “Giving Back To Our Community.” We got our hands dirty by doing grounds keeping at Ben Brenman Park. Several teams weeded around trees & sidewalks while others picked up trash. Other volunteers roamed the park, giving out 300 free chilled water bottles to residents who were there. If you received a free water bottle, we warmly invite you to visit Grace Church of Alexandria. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am, just a few blocks away from the park, at the Samuel Tucker Elementary School in Cameron Station.

A hearty thank you goes to the 16 young adults from Heritage Bible Church in South Carolina who spent an entire week serving our church and helping us give back to Alexandria. They went from home to home of our members, doing yard work, delivering groceries, and babysitting to give parents’ a night out. They were a visible demonstration to us of the kind of self-giving love that God gives to us generously through Christ. They also put up over 300 posters inviting city residents to come worship with us at Grace Church of Alexandria. You can now spot our posters in Old Town Alexandria, Kingstowne, Springfield, Crystal City, and Pentagon City. Thank you, friends, for contributing to our church family and to our community!

Curious what a Sunday morning worship service is like at Grace Church of Alexandria? Take a look at a recent order of worship below.

On Sunday morning, a guide to worship like this one is handed out to everyone in attendance. Public prayers & Scripture readings are interspersed throughout our corporate worship. We sing a mix of old songs and new. The preaching of a text of Scripture stands as the centerpoint of our worship as we let God’s Word shape our lives. We regularly observe the Lord’s Table. Every Sunday we gather to resound with praise to the great God who made us and redeemed us!

Sample Order of Worship

Ever wonder what to pray for your pastors? Wondering how you can pray for the Leadership Team of Grace Church of Alexandria? Ligon Duncan gives 17 ways you can intercede for your elders and minister grace to them. Your pastors need as much prayer from you as you receive from them on your behalf  (Ephesians 6:18-19).

Don’t just pray these for your lead pastor. Pray this way for every lay elders of your church, and in our case as a new church plant, our Leadership Team families. That includes Garrett & Amanda Lee, Shayne McAllister, Peter & Jessica Beninate, and Jonathan & Christy Matías. Here are Duncan’s 17 ideas:

“Pray -

1. That [your pastor] would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.

2. That [your pastor] would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.

3. That [your pastor] would be useful servant of the Lord, that he would know and love God’s word, God’s people, and God’s kingdom; that he would be used to build it up and so that it prevails even against Hell’s gates.

4. That [your pastor] would study, practice and teach the Word of the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

5. That [your pastor] would love to pray, because he loves to commune with his God, and that he would be a man of prayer, characteristically.

6. That [your pastor] would be ever dependent upon and filled with the Spirit; and that he would possess true Spiritual wisdom.

7. That [your pastor] would be holy unto the Lord. That his tongue and heart would be wholly God’s.

8. That [your pastor] would be kept from pride, and especially spiritual pride. That the Lord himself would be gracious to slay pride in him, and that your pastor would endeavor to always be putting pride to death, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

9. That God would give [your pastor] guidance as to where to focus his efforts in ministry.

10. That He would protect [your pastor] from himself, from the enemy of his soul, and from all earthly enemies.

11. That no decision which [your pastor] ever makes or desire that [your pastor] ever pursues would restrict his ability to pour his whole soul into the Gospel ministry.

12.That many would be converted and many built up under [your pastor]‘s ministry, to God’s glory alone.

13. That the Lord would bless [your pastor]‘s wife, [. . . ], with holiness and happiness, Gospel assurance and Gospel rest.

14. That God would make [your pastor] a decent husband and father.

15. That [your pastor] would be a good friend to his wife, and love her self-sacrificially,

16. That [your pastor] would be a good daddy to his children. That they would love God, their parents and the church.

17. That [your pastor] would be a testimony in the home so that his wife might be able to respect him when he is in the pulpit, and so that [your pastor] will be able to feed her soul, along with the rest of the congregation.”

Thanks to Duncan for sharing this list at the Together For the Gospel blog and for G for bringing it to my attention.

Our church family recently had a fun night out in Del Ray, a peaceful main street community in Alexandria. We attended a special event at The Dairy Godmother, a delicious custard creamery. In honor of the Dairy Godmother’s German Wisconsin heritage, March 15th was “Brat Night” (that is, bratwurst, not as in “you little brat!”). They offer sauerkraut, bratwurst, and frozen custard to the community along with live accordion music.

The place was packed with hundreds of people inside the tiny shop and filling up the sidewalk outside. There’s nothing else quite so good as cherry cobbler with vanilla frozen custard from this wonderful Alexandria creamery. It provided our church family a fun night out of fellowship together in our community.

Open for Brat Night!

The accordion players really got into it.

Aah, what a great dinner, topped off with frozen custard. Thanks to The Dairy Godmother for providing our church a relaxing time where we could laugh and share life together.

More images from the day Grace Church officially organized as a local church in the Washington D.C. area.

A group photo of Grace Church’s charter members.

Over thirty visitors came to celebrate this Sunday with us from Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Greenville, South Carolina.

Signing the membership roll.

Our charter members rehearsed our church covenant, which is our commitment to each other and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks to friends of our church plant for traveling here to help out in GraceKids and other ministries.

Enjoy these glimpses from March 1, 2009 when we officially organized as a local church.

The order of worship Christy Matias designed for Charter Sunday.

Unloading the trailer with our church’s equipment and setting up for worship. Thanks to our friends from Heritage Bible Church and other churches who showed up to lend a hand!

Shayne McAllister presides as the charter members vote to form Grace Church of Alexandria as a local church. Notice how he’s dressed compared to….

Garrett Lee was called up at 5:45 Sunday morning to carry out an urgent medical procedure at a hospital in Maryland. He flew back to Dulles Airport on a charter jet and arrived in his scrubs and a hoodie just in time to nominate Jonathan Matias for elder.

Check back later this week. I’ll be posting more photos taken by Kirsten Dietz at Grace Church’s Charter Sunday.

On Sunday, March 1, 2009, we celebrated God’s redeeming grace as our church plant officially became a local church. On this day we accepted into membership 17 charter members, affirmed our first officers, and adopted governing documents. Over thirty guests, including 5 pastors joined us for this historic day.

Garrett’s Incredible Adventure

Garrett Lee, a member of our Leadership Team, barely made it to Charter Sunday. He got called up for work for an emergency at 6 AM and only made it back after flying into Dulles Airport and driving as fast as he could to the last half. Christ was kind in getting Garrett, wearing his hospital scrubs, back to administer the vows of an elder and preside over the Lord’s Table.

Stranded Worshipers

Charter Sunday was only the beginning of an adventure for twenty-five friends from South Carolina who drove up to celebrate with us. On the way home, they got stranded in North Carolina in a large snow & ice storm. The storm forced three cars and a van full of friends to stop overnight at hotels. Pastor Eric Sipe’s car got stranded and out of gas on I-85 because the highway got shut down due to the ice & snow! Thankfully, they made it safely to a hotel after buying a 5 gallon container to bring gas to the car. Our dear friend John Gardner, an elder from Heritage, was stuck overnight on the highway with his family and a friend in their SUV because the highway was iced over and shut down. They could not get to an exit ramp, so they had to brave it out overnight in the car. We thank God for keeping our friends safe during their journey home!

I’ll post photos soon. No sermon was recorded. In lieu of a sermon, enjoy the following glimpses of our Charter Sunday. Soli Deo Gloria.

1. Order of Worship – the guide to worship for Charter Sunday designed by Christy Matias.

2. Church Covenant – commitment read aloud by charter members to love one another and this church family.

3. Vows of An Elder – the commitments made by our elders to our congregation and the congregation to the elders. Jonathan Matias was affirmed as our first full-time elder. Peter Beninate was elected Grace Church’s first treasurer, and Elizabeth Wiebe our first secretary.

4. The Story of Grace Church of Alexandria – the story as printed in our order of worship.

A Vision For a New Local Church

Nine years ago, two friends, Jonathan Matias and Shayne McAllister, saw a need for the Gospel in Washington D.C., one of the fastest growing metro areas. They began praying about starting a Gospel-preaching church near our nation’s capitol. In 2003 while at seminary together, Garrett Lee and Jonathan Matias often prayed that God would make this vision for God’s glory a reality.

Forming A Team

Enter Heritage Bible Church of Greer, South Carolina. Heritage has pursued a vision of establishing local churches in strategic cities nationwide. Under the direction of Pastor Eric Sipe, Heritage has mentored Jonathan in a pastoral internship, given financial backing, and provided supervision of the church plant. God called several individuals and families from Heritage to join the church planting team. This is the eighth church formed under Heritage’s guidance.

Relocating to Alexandria

So in November of 2007, the team relocated to the D.C. area and began meeting as Grace Church of Alexandria. They first met in the apartment of Jane Coates and then in the home of Josh & Christy Scheiderer. In 2008, Capitol Hill Baptist Church provided their church building in Washington D.C. to the team rent-free.

Gathering Worshipers in Alexandria, Virginia

In the fall of 2008, God provided our current meeting place, the Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School in Cameron Station, a community in Alexandria, Virginia. We gather together to proclaim the majestic glory of God and revel in his astonishing grace. God has rescued us from our rebellion through Jesus Christ and granted us fellowship with the Triune God. We gather to hear from God through his Word and apply the Gospel to our every day lives. The Holy Spirit is transforming us and unifying us together so we will draw others to worship our great God.

On this day, March 1, 2009, we celebrate God’s redeeming grace in forming Grace Church of Alexandria. Soli deo gloria.

This coming Sunday, March 1st, is Charter Sunday, a historic day in our church’s life. Grace Church will be receiving into membership our charter members and organizing formally as a church. God is growing his church!

What Is Charter Sunday?
Our church plant team has been meeting together in Alexandria and Washington D.C. since November 2007. Every week, two to three families from our community check out our new church, and a good number have decided to make Grace Church of Alexandria their home. We need elders recognized by the congregation to shepherd the flock (Titus 1:5). The elders need to know who is really a part of this church are so they can shepherd and give account for the flock with joy (Hebrews 13:17).

So it is time to admit believers into membership as charter members. The congregation will elect our first elder and other officers, and we’ll be voting on a statement of faith and constitution to guide our church.

Join Us For Charter Sunday!
Show up around 9:50 am this Sunday, March 1st. We’ll be providing refreshments for all our guests. Our corporate worship will begin at 10:10 am. Looks like 25 to 35 friends and family from out-of-town will be arriving to celebrate God’s work in our church’s life. Afterward, everyone is invited to Fuddruckers for a celebratory lunch together. That’s about the one place in Alexandria that can host everyone who is coming.

Christ Is Building His Church
In Matthew 16:18, Christ promised that he would build his church. He has been faithful and true to grow our church family by his amazing grace. Grace Church has grown from a small gathering of believers that first met for worship in Jane Coates’ apartment into full-fledged local church. Several people have been baptized. Every week a steady number of non-Christians are attending and asking important questions about God and the Gospel. We’re seeing the Gospel bear fruit in our lives and our relationships.

Why Membership Is So Important?
You might be wondering, “Why do you place so much emphasis on actually joining a church as a member? I’ve never been a member of a church, and I’m a good Christian.” Read this article by our Leadership Team to see what the Bible says about church members and its importance for every believer’s spiritual growth and life.