FAQ's

Why plant another church in the Wenatchee area?

We believe God has called us to this work, and we see a great need for it. Consider this...there are approximately 45-50 evangelical churches in the Wenatchee valley and surrounding areas. These churches have a combined seating capacity of around 15,000. If every church filled their building to capacity this Sunday (which we pray happens!) there would still be roughly 60,000-65,000 people in the Greater Wenatchee area who could not go to church even if they wanted to!  This valley needs more Christ-centered, Gospel-spreading, church-planting churches, and it is our prayer that the Lord would use GCC to plant more churches in our region and around the world. 

 

Are you affiliated with anyone?

Yes!  GCC is excited to be connected with a growing network of local Christian churches across the United States and around the world called The Acts 29 Network.  With these churches we share a common vision to make disciples, live Spirit-filled lives, plant God-centered missional churches that faithfully preach a clear gospel, and live out a complimentarian vision for relationships. 

 

How is your leadership structured?

We are a two-office church consisting of biblically qualified elders and deacons. We believe this to be the simplest and most biblical form of church polity. The elders primary responsibilities are to give themselves to prayer and the Word. They are responsible for teaching, instructing, exhorting, rebuking, and correcting the body of Christ with sound doctrine. They are charged with protecting the flock from “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, equipping the people for ministry (i.e. “oversee” the church, not “overdo” in the church), and preserving doctrinal purity. They are the spiritual shepherds of the flock.

The deacons primary responsibilities are to serve the practical needs of the church. However, they are not committee members and janitors. They are front-line, people-serving ministers of mercy and compassion. They are men and women of noble character charged with caring for the sick, the poor, the widows, and the needy. While their service is broad and often practical in nature, they too must be exemplary in character and conduct, with a heart for the Gospel and knowledge of the Word. We hold both offices in high esteem as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and servants to the church.

 

Why don’t you have a youth group?

While the employment of this means can be very strategic for some churches, we feel it would help us to best accomplish our mission at this time to focus more on a church culture that integrates the ages.  We want to provide an environment that encourages and promotes God-designed youth-leaders...the parents and the church!  We deeply value families worshipping together, parents cherishing their responsibility to disciple their own children, and seeing our children’s faith strengthened by “walking with the wise” as we live on mission together.  We believe these goals are best achieved when families experience Sunday worship and church-life together rather than being fragmented and sent to different parts of the building for age-segregated worship, learning, and church life.

Although it can be a more difficult road to walk in the short-term, we have seen the long-term blessings that come when young and old worship together…they are significant.   For instance, the generational gap disappears.  Families draw closer together. Parents gain a vision for discipleship. Young adults feel needed and connected.  Older saints realize they’re needed as mentors and examples.  And youth don’t grow up in a “different church culture,” where, after high school, they are unable or unwilling to make the shift to “adult church”.  There is ONE culture…the people of God in the presence of God, worshiping and growing together.

 

Why is your Sunday worship structured how it is?

  • We believe corporate worship is highly formational in shaping how we view God. Therefore, we desire our Lord’s Day service to be God-centered, Christ-exalting, and Spirit-led. 
  • We want our worship to be Bible-saturated and firmly anchored in time-tested elements proven throughout history to stir holy hunger and bear godly fruit in the Church.  Therefore, we desire the content, order, and method of our services to cultivate in us a love for God’s Word, a hunger to be in His presence, and a desire to spend our lives for His glory.
  • We believe that the cross must be central in our corporate worship. Therefore, we weekly walk through the movements of the Gospel and weekly partake in the communion elements of the Lord’s Table.
  • We believe worship should be active, not passive. Therefore, we give regular opportunity in our service for the worshippers to engage the mind, body, and heart in worshipping God through reading, listening, kneeling, praying, responsive readings, and singing.

 

Does GCC, with male-only elders, believe women can participate in ministry?

Absolutely yes!  We heartily affirm that all saints are given gifts and called to serve the body of Christ.  We also affirm that both men and women are called to the ministry of spreading the Gospel. We believe that the biblical restriction for women in ministry is very small, and we must guard against restricting where God has not.

We affirm complimentarianism and exalt in the glorious truth that God has created us equal in value and uniquely different in function and roles. Put another way, God has made the male and female gender stronger than the other in complimentary ways!  Complimentarianism avoids the abuse of authoritarianism (heavy-handed male leadership) and the error of egalitarianism (no difference between genders in design or role).   Rather, it puts manhood and womanhood in a biblical light and encourages us to strive towards our God-designed roles and responsibilities. We believe this allows both men and women to flourish in the many areas in which God has called them to express their leadership, gifts and abilities… to the good of the Church and the glory of God. For more information on this important cultural issue, visit the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

 

Does GCC advocate any one form of schooling as the best option for a child’s education?

In a word, No. What GCC does advocate, however, is that parents take ultimate responsibility for overseeing their children’s education.  Choosing the education for one’s children is an individual family decision.  Parents must keep in mind the goal, then work backwards from there to consider the means (public, private, or home school).  The goal is to raise children who think critically and biblically, are firmly grounded with a Christian worldview, and have a warm heart and burning passion to engage the lost with the gospel. 

Towards this end, all parents must pray, seek godly counsel, take into consideration the frame of their children, research the tools available to them within the context in which they live, and become fully convinced in the way they decide to use their God-given liberty under the Lordship of Christ to bear the best and most abundant fruit possible for the glory of God.

This will look differently for each family, even from year to year.  While we believe there are easier roads to choose than others, every option will have its own unique challenges that must be intentionally addressed by the parents.  There is no silver bullet.  So, parents, pick your problems, and by the grace of God deal with those problems as they arise.  Each household must seek the wisdom and leading of the Lord, and then endeavor to faithfully labor towards bringing about godly fruit.

 

What does “Reformed in doctrine” mean?

We are essentially reformed in our theology. This means that we embrace and exult in the sovereignty of God over all things, and that we place the emphasis on the activity of God and the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. We affirm the 5 solas, and believe that Salvation, the free gift of God, is made available by the sovereign grace of God alone, through faith alone, because of Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, rooted in the authority of God’s Word alone.  For more on this, see "What We Believe".

 

What do you mean when you say you are “Charismatic in Ministry"?

We are essentially charismatic in how we view ministry. This means that we are active in our pursuit and responsible in our practice of all the gifts of the Spirit as found in the New Testament, and that our worship is expressive and passionate. We do not believe that any one gift should be elevated above the other or required as proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We believe all things are to be done in an orderly fashion, and that different gifts are given to different members of the body for the edification of the Church and the glory of God.

 

What do you mean when you say you are "evangelical in mission"?

We are essentially evangelical in our mission.  While this has many definitions today, for us it means two things: #1) We believe that the Bible is the infallible record of God’s self-disclosure and is therefore our final authority in all matters of life and doctrine, and #2) we believe all people need to be saved by responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, this doctrinal belief drives our urgent and earnest evangelism in calling all peoples everywhere to repent and place their trust in Jesus Christ.  We are passionate about missions both at home and abroad, and live out this passion in our Gospel Communities, where we as a church live together on mission for the gospel.