About

Our Mission

Our mission is to glorify God in all that we do as God’s people at Living Grace (1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Peter 2:9-10). We seek to glorify God by growing in Christ, enjoying Christ, and reaching our world for Christ.

We seek to grow in Christ

Jesus taught his disciples in John 15 that He is the vine and they are the branches; and because He is the vine, He calls his disciples to abide in Him. We aim to abide in Christ, or grow in Christ, in our Sunday service through singing songs that declare the hope we have in the gospel and preaching sermons that are anchored in the gospel through expository preaching. We also have many life groups throughout the week to help you grow in Christ so you can receive encouragement from other Christ followers.

We seek to enjoy Christ

In Romans 15, towards the end of his letter to the church at Rome, the apostle Paul wrote these words:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

As we abide in Christ, we seek to abound in the hope we have in Him by enjoying Him together. We enjoy Christ together through life groups, monthly fellowship events, Sunday morning conversations, and other various ways throughout the week to strengthen one another.

We seek to reach our world for Christ

The final command Jesus gave his disciples was to go throughout all the world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). We seek to reach our neighborhoods and the nations for Christ by extending the grace and generosity of God in many different ways.

Our Beliefs

We are part of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA).

God

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

The Bible

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

The Human Condition

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

The Work of Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

The Church

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Christian Living

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

Christ’s Return

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

Response and Eternal Destiny

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.

Our Core Values

Anchored in Christ

Hebrews 6:19-20 says that we have this (the person and work of Jesus Christ) as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

We believe that this promise anchors us in all that we do at Living Grace. We never lose sight of this hope and promise that Christ has won the victory over sin and death through his death and resurrection. We have the confidence to approach God because Christ has gone before us on our behalf by paying the price for our sin and accomplishing for us eternal life through the glory of his resurrection and ascension.

Anchored in the Gospel
We are a people who have been transformed by the power of the good news of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17). When we say we are “anchored in the gospel”, we mean that we are centering our lives on the good news that can transform not only our church, but our world. From Cary to Chicago to the nations, the gospel has the power to change lives. The gospel is of “first importance” and is the lens by which we see people and our world (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Anchored in the Grace of God

Our name says it all! We are people of living grace because God’s grace has been applied to us by the Holy Spirit. While there is division and hostility in our world, we believe God’s grace to his people can unify the body of Christ. When Jesus prayed in John 17 that his people would be one, he prayed that our unity would be the same union he had with the Father. We believe that the only way we can be unified is through the grace of God as seen in Jesus Christ. God applies his grace to his people so that we can be vessels of his grace in our world.

Anchored in the Power of God's Word

The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, gives us a beautiful picture of delighting in God’s Word. We don’t just believe God’s Word at Living Grace, we treasure and love God’s Word. The Bible is the eternal source of life for all who follow Jesus Christ. We believe the Bible is fully sufficient for knowing God, making God known, and our worldview. We seek to anchor our lives in God’s Word through preaching the Bible in our Sunday morning service, talking about God’s Word in life groups, and through various events and conferences throughout the year.

Anchored in the Power of the Holy Spirit

Jesus told his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). When the Church was birthed, Jesus gave his people the power of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses among the nations. The Holy Spirit empowers us to declare Christ, honor Christ, and serve Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers us to pursue godly living and exalt the glory of God. We seek to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit by worshiping God through corporate worship, loving one another, and serving our community to see the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.

Our Partners

We partner with these local ministries:

Moms Not Forgotten

Refuge for Women Chicago

Cary Grove Food Pantry

Mission: USA (Chicago)

The 222 Foundation

Youth for Christ Chicago

Created for More Ministries

The 6:4 Fellowship

Missionaries

We also support many missionaries around the world through the generous giving of the people at Living Grace:

El Ayudante, Honduras

Ambassadors of Grace International

Commission to Every Nation

Cadence International

Faith Bible Church, Albania

Child Evangelism Fellowship

Kids Alive Dominican Republic