About Us

Our Vision

• To worship and glorify God, edify believers, and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
• To follow the New Testament pattern for church worship and practice.
• To equip families to build a godly heritage that will glorify God for many generations.
• To encourage fathers to be spiritual leaders in the home and to turn their hearts to their children (Mal. 4:6)

Family Integrated Worship

In a family integrated church, the whole family meets together for Sunday worship. There are no age-segregated classes or youth groups. The children sing the same songs, hear the same teaching, and participate in the same worship as their parents.

This promotes family unity and strengthens the family relationships. There are many influences in our culture working to pull families apart. The church should do its part to hold families together.

We view children as a blessing, not a burden, both in the family and in the church. We wholeheartedly affirm the truth of Psalm 127:3 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward." 

Uniting Church and Home

In recent years God has called many families to return to a scriptural family life. Fathers and mothers have turned their hearts to their children and embraced biblical family roles. Among the results has been a rise in home schooling, a new wave of godly Christian mothers being joyful keepers at home and an increase in family size as children are welcomed as blessings from the Lord. These are good and scriptural trends.

Unfortunately, instead of welcoming this revival in godly family life, many well-meaning churches have viewed it with suspicion. Families have struggled as they have watched traditional, program-centered church life undermine family unity and the biblical headship of the father.

On the other hand, families have sometimes overreacted by becoming too inward focused and downplaying the importance of the local church.

"Uniting church and home" means to create a local church environment where the church and the family heartily support one another and where the growing revival in family life is not only accepted, but thoroughly embraced and encouraged. Since the family is the primary building block of the church, God's work in the home should be allowed to spill over in blessing to the church.

Church Leadership

Church leadership and oversight is provided by a plurality of elders. We believe this to be the New Testament pattern of leadership.

• The New Testament titles elder, bishop (or overseer), and pastor (or shepherd) refer to the same office. This is evident from Acts 20:17,28 and 1 Peter 5:1-2.
• The overseers or elders are to lead by example. "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:3).
• The qualifications of an elder are given in 1 Timothy 3:1-15 and Titus 1:5-9.
• Each father has a role in his own family similar to the role elders have in the church. (1 Tim. 3: 5).

Sunday Meeting Format

Our Sunday meeting is patterned after the model described in 1 Corinthians 14. "When ye come together everyone of you hath a psalm ... doctrine ... revelation ... etc." The meeting includes singing hymns, Bible teaching, testimonies, prayer, and encouraging words as the Spirit leads. All words that are spoken are to be evaluated against Scripture.

The Lord's Supper is celebrated each Sunday, with each father serving his own family. (If a father is not present, one of the other fathers serves that family.) A fellowship meal is shared after the morning meeting. This is a vital part of Sunday worship as it helps build Godly relationships that strengthen and edify the body. After-lunch activities vary, but focus on more informal fellowship and edification.

Tithes and Offerings

GFC does not solicit funds. Each family is encouraged to give tithes and offerings as led by the Lord. A collection is not taken during the Sunday meeting, but an offering box is available for anyone wishing to give. We are committed to operating with a low financial overhead that allows the majority of resources to be used for ministry.

Home Schooling

We believe it is the responsibility of Christian parents to provide their children with a godly education (Deut. 6:7-9). This is a critical part of raising up a godly heritage for many generations. As a consequence, most of the families attending GFC are home schoolers.

Beliefs Section (Also Statement of Faith)

The following summarizes our core beliefs. These are the foundational beliefs we base our faith on and cannot be compromised. Beyond these core beliefs each believer may have slightly different doctrinal beliefs on various issues. We believe that these slight differences should not hinder our ability to worship, fellowship, and edify one another as the body of Christ.

Where we disagree, we can study the scriptures together as brothers, with the understanding that scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit must be our final authority in doctrine.

God - We believe that there is one God who eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is the creator and sovereign ruler of the universe.

Jesus - We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was born of a virgin, was wholly God and wholly man, lived a sinless life, died in our place as a sacrifice for sin, was buried, arose bodily from the grave, and ascended into heaven.

Holy Spirit - We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, is co-equal with the Father and the Son, is active in convincing unbelievers of their need for salvation, and is the Comforter, Guide, and Sanctifier who lives in every believer.

The Bible - We believe that the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God without any error, is the final and sufficient authority for life, faith, and practice of the believer and the church, and is able to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Salvation - We believe that salvation is a free gift of God's grace received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Good Works - We believe that genuine faith and true salvation will necessarily produce a changed life and a continuance in good works.

Church - We believe that the church is the body of believers having the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head. It is not an institution, denomination, or building. It has its primary expression in local gatherings of believers characterized by scriptural order, authority, and ordinances. The purpose of the church is to worship God, edify believers, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Baptism - We believe that water baptism is an act of obedience to the command of Christ and is by immersion after salvation as an outward symbol of the new birth.

Lord's Supper - We believe that the Lord's Supper is a symbol whereby believers partake of the bread and cup in memory of the death of Christ and in anticipation of His second coming.

Last Days - We believe in a literal and visible return of Christ in the last days. At that time Christ will judge all men in righteousness. All of the believers will receive glorified bodies and dwell forever in heaven with the Lord. All unbelievers will be consigned to a literal hell, a place of everlasting punishment.