Our History
How we became a church that serves our community
A congregation must become a place where members learn to function like cross-cultural missionaries rather than be a gathering place where people come to receive religious goods and services.
Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader, pg. 13
A strong start
Grace Community Church had its beginnings in July of 1994, when a group of families began to meet together for prayer. Each possessed a common vision for a new church in the tri-county area—a church characterized by small group ministry, application driven biblical teaching, contemporary worship, and a passion to celebrate the grace of God. After much prayer, and through a remarkable series of events, God confirmed their desires, and they scheduled a planning retreat.
The group asked Rod MacIlvaine, an experienced church planter, to assist them in formulating their vision and strategic plan. After the weekend, he was so impressed with God’s movement among the group, he offered to consult with them as they implemented their plans, and help them in their search for new pastor.
Their relationship grew, and in June 1995, Rod left his position at Fellowship Bible Church—Dallas, to become the founding pastor at GCC. He brought with him a commitment to small groups, and a vision to build a growing community centered on God’s grace. We celebrated our grand opening on 10 September 1995.
The church had a strong start because of its small group model, and by Easter 1999 close to a thousand worshippers jammed their new worship center on the day it was opened. The initial culture of the church was strongly seeker sensitive and reflected the demographics of Bartlesville.
A crisis
However, in August 2002, Phillips Petroleum merged with Conoco Oil Company, and the unthinkable took place: The headquarters of Phillips Petroleum was relocated to Houston. Within the year, close to forty percent of our congregation was transferred out of the city.
For the next three years, Grace sought to rebuild the leadership structure of the church with the new people that God was bringing our way, but they were now second generation participants in what was still a new church. The leadership challenges were immense.
The beginnings of change
When Rod returned from his seventh short term mission trip to the Central Caribbean in the spring of 2006, he experienced a defining moment. He came back extremely passionate about how God was using Grace Community Church in international church planting, but he realized he was not as passionate about how God was using GCC in our own city.
Knowing this was a serious problem, Rod spent three days on a prayer retreat in Dallas, and determined to call the church to renewed prayer.
Later that summer, he attended his first set of classes in the Dallas Theological Seminary D.Min. program (large-church cohort) and began an intensive study of the missional church.
Convinced that this was not just another method of church effectiveness or church growth, but a fundamentally different way of viewing ministry, he began to pray about initiating missional changes.
He was convinced that missional changes needed to begin in three areas: a modification of our original vision, a different philosophy of corporate worship, and a commitment to serving our community as if we were a missionary church.
Rod began the change process with a series on prayer, and at the end of the series tried something GCC had never done before: he called people to write down the sins on a piece of paper, and then come forward to nail it to one of three wooden crosses placed in the front of the auditorium.
He thought maybe a dozen might come forward, but nearly the entire church stood in line waiting to pound their sins into the cross. As he later destroyed the pieces of paper, he realized that these were hugely significant sins, expressed with great sorrow.
This had become a defining moment for the church.
In the weeks that followed, the worship took a decisively different flavor. Rather than standing on the upper stage, Rod moved to a smaller stage on the floor of the auditorium, placing him in closer proximity to the congregation. This was done to model the increased humility needed as GCC transitioned in a missional direction.
High participation worship
Each Sunday, church members were invited to come forward, as they felt led, to light candles as an expression of thanks to God for answered prayer. Stools were set up in front of the auditorium so that prayer team members might pray with those who sensed their need for prayer in the middle of worship.
Posters of renaissance and baroque art were placed in easels on the prayer benches near the stage. These pieces of art were used as a stimulus to prayer during communion.
Communion changed as well. Rather than a passive communion experience where the elements were passed out on plates. Members were invited forward to take communion kneeling, praying, and then taking the elements.
For those who struggled in some way during the week, MacIlvaine had a special communion space at the front of the stage where people could confess sin and then take the elements.
A Re-visioning Process
Meanwhile, the elders had commenced a re-visioning process. The process began in early 2006, but in its early stages, it was based on a more inwardly focused and attractional model. At the 2006 fall elders’ retreat, the vision discussions were recalibrated in a decisively missional direction.
Initial “what if” discussions on the part of elders and staff generated great enthusiasm about the concept of missional ministry, but the elders wisely determined to slow down the process and wait on God for his leading.
In the months that followed a subset of the elder board met regularly to discuss how to articulate the emerging missional vision.
Initials Forays into the Community for Service
In the winter of 2006, GCC set its sights on serving the public schools. Determining that it was best to start with its neighborhood public elementary school, Rod along with our Executive Pastor, Ed Schmidt, met with the principal and gave him $1,000 to use as he saw fit for the needs of teachers. They then asked if the school had some projects with which the church could provide assistance.
This began a fruitful relationship that has included tutoring, helping teachers move into their rooms in advance of fall classes and assisting needy students and their families.
At the same time, the elders agreed that we would assist the local mid-high school. Working with the principal, a series of projects was mapped out. Over the next four years, Grace would serve by sponsoring a back-to-school camp, renovating a teacher’s lounge, painting the gym, cafeteria and choir room, and beautifying the outside of the building. We currently have the privilege of mentoring selected students in life-skills at the recommendation of the administration.
As these missional changes took place, MacIlvaine taught the congregation the things he was learning about missional ministry in a series of expository messages. We also began making heroes of those who were serving in the city.
In early 2007, the church began to see missional traction among small groups. One group began serving city employees, bringing refreshments to the garbage men before their shifts began. Another small group decided to serve, collectively, as the room parent at a west side school in Bartlesville that was low on parent participation. Another small group took refreshments to police officers. Still another small group collectively sponsored a homeless individual seeking to help him move from the working poor category to middle class.
Our Celebrate Recovery Ministry fits prominently within our missional vision. One of the best ways we serve our community is by providing a place where those with hurts, habits and hang-ups can find hope and healing. This ministry of Grace has further transformed our church. Many people have observed that Grace has become more of a hospital for the hurting than a place for people who seem self-satisfied and don’t sense their deep need for Christ.
A different way of stating our vision
For 11 eleven years, our vision had been, to build a growing community centered on God’s grace (John 1:14). But the elders felt that in light of the church’s current direction, this vision statement was not specific enough. After months of prayer and discussion, the new vision was expressed as follows:
- Grace Community Church exists to worship the risen Christ, connect people in life changing relationships, and serve our city.
- Our ultimate desire is that we could be a significant agent of Christ’s mission (John 20:21) to our city and beyond.
- We aspire to do this in a way that radiates God’s amazing and unconditional grace (John 1:14).
This revised vision statement was worded to convey the ministry process. The people at GCC worship and connect so they can excel at serving outside the walls of the church. Serving is the end point. The elders came to believe that if someone sensed their call to serve within the city, it would model the ministry of Jesus (Mark 10:45), and it would open doors for evangelism.
At times we expressed it this way: We excel at conveying common grace so that we can communicate the message of saving grace.
Since we began to institute our missional changes, the elders and staff have been amazed at how many people really “get it”.
By early 2009, the new DNA of the church seemed to be on everyone’s lips: “We worship and connect so that we can serve.”
Ironically, our focus on external service has prompted our members to be all the more passionate about serving inside the church. (We’re hugely grateful for this!)
And we’ve discovered the wonderful secret that many new missional churches are discovering. When your goal is advancing God’s kingdom in his power (not just your church effectiveness or church growth), a transformation takes place.
People sacrifice enthusiastically as a community to fulfill God’s kingdom goals.
Thanks for being part of our journey!