“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
It’s time once again for another update from your friends at Grace Valley Church.
As you can see, we now have a church logo and slogan. After weeks of viewing design submissions from around the world, we have chosen a simple design that captures the spirit of Grace Valley Church. The different sized blocks represent people of different classes, ethnicities and histories all converging around the cross of Jesus Christ. The slogan, “Life in Christ, Christ in Life” communicates that we believe true life can only be found through faith in Jesus, and that the life of faith requires obedience to Christ in all spheres.
Over the last couple of months, we have begun meeting regularly in small groups to begin discovering God’s vision for a gospel-centred, Reformed church in the heart of Dundas. Because of our size, we meet on two separate days:Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Each meeting begins with fellowship time, so that new friends can get to know one another better. We then enter the teaching time. We are currently working through the vision statement, mission statement, and core values of GVC. Time is spent studying Scripture and applying it to our specific context, and discussing how to implement the mission of GVC in our community. We also spend time in prayer for one another, for our unbelieving family and friends, and for the town of Dundas.
The vision of GVC is: to see all of Dundas impacted by the gospel for the glory of God and the good of the Dundas community. The mission of GVC is to form a worshiping community that centres our life in Jesus Christ and brings Jesus Christ into all of life. It’s exciting to dream together about how to fulfil our mission together in Dundas. Over the next prayer updates, I will introduce to you the core values of Grace Valley.
Many people ask when we will begin worship services, especially since we have a pretty good-sized launch team formed and have (conditionally) purchased a building. We are committed to implanting a missional DNA deep into our church community before we begin worship services. This takes time. Therefore, our hope is to launch services sometime in the fall. We don’t expect to be in our building by then. We may not even have a building anymore! The purchase depends on a successful rezoning application with the city of Hamilton–a process which has just begun.
Your support of Grace Valley Church is deeply appreciated. The last few months have been quite stressful, but God has sustained us every step of the way. We know your prayers have contributed to that.
Please feel free to pass these updates on to anyone you think would be interested in Grace Valley Church.
Prayer Points:
- Jessica and I spent last week in Orlando Florida at church planter training; give thanks for the wonderful training we could receive — and pray that we can figure out how to implement it!?
- Praise God that we now have 116 prayer partners! We know that we cannot fulfil our mission without the prayers of God’s people. Thank you for your support!
- Give thanks that home renovations are going well. We hope to move in by March 31, an ambitious timeline. Pray that the house will be finished “enough” for us to move in by then.
- Pray that our launch team begins to feel like a church family and that we all embrace the vision of GVC.
- Give thanks for the opportunities to share the vision of GVC with Dundas residents. So far, people have shown genuine excitement at the prospect of a new church in town.
- Please continue to pray that our rezoning application with the city of Hamilton will be well-received. The location for our church building seems ideal, so losing this opportunity would be a real disappointment. Of course, we believe God’s hand is at work regardless the outcome, but we also feel this property could be used mightily to advance the cause of his Kingdom in Dundas and beyond.
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”