About Us

Growing in Spirit - Living as Disciples - Serving God's World

 

Grace Presbyterian Church's Mission

At Grace, the inner spiritual growth is never disconnected from the fruit of discipleship and service. We prioritize robust worship, education and spiritual growth opportunities, but we don't stop there. You'll find that the same person who taught prayer practices on Sunday morning is calling local partners about our support of local schools. You'll find that our planning meetings for hands-on mission partnerships turn into conversations about what it means to hope for God's kingdom on earth. This is who we are at Grace: people seeking to grow in Spirit, live as disciples, and serve God's world. People seeking to build a unity of heart and action in our life together, following Jesus Christ.

We Choose Welcome

Our church sign out front says "We Choose Welcome," and we do our best to mean it. We want everyone to worship, grow, learn, and serve with us--regardless of age, race, ethnicity, ability, gender, or sexual orientation. Just as Jesus included all kinds of people in his mission and ministry, we believe God calls us to continually grow in welcome and inclusivity. This takes intentional work, but there's nothing more Presbyterian than good, old-fashioned hard work!

What We Believe

As a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we share core beliefs held in common across many Christian churches, as articulated in the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed. We also hold distinct Protestant, and specifically Reformed, theological emphases that can be traced to our historical origins during the Protestant Reformation in Europe: many of these can be found in our Book of Confessions. While we have our written statements, we also believe in the principle, "Reformed, and always reforming according to the word of God." In faithful study and devotion to God's word revealed through Christ and through the Scripture, we are continually being transformed to come closer to the radical, powerful love of God. You can read more about what Presbyterians believe here.
At Grace Presbyterian, we also know that our beliefs can be better discovered by observing our actions than by reading a bunch of historical confessions. So we invite you to come out and worship with us, experience the warm welcome of our community, sing in the choir, or join in our longstanding mission partnerships in Springfield and Honduras and Palestine.

Our History

1953: The first Grace worship service is led by Rev. Kirk Hammond in a home on Grayson Street, a few blocks from the current church building.
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1954: The official organizational service, with 50 charter members, is held.
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1954: Grace begins its tradition of singing Hallelujah Chorus every Easter.
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1956: Worship moves to Crestwood School.
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1956: Grace Weekday Kindergarten opens, to eventually become Grace Weekday Preschool.
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1963: The first worship service is held in the current building.
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1968: Grace supports fair housing laws in Fairfax County, and provides lodging to civil rights activists during the Poor People's Campaign.
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1968: Grace is one of nine Springfield Churches that join to form Ecumenical Community Helping Others (ECHO), to support Springfield residents living in long-term poverty or facing emergency needs.
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1969: Grace's beautiful Allen Organ is dedicated.
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1970: Youth of East Springfield (YES) Coffeehouse is established as the first youth ministry at Grace.
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1989: Grace Tutoring program is established.
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2000: Grace enters into mission partnership with Honduras Outreach International, a continuing program with annual mission trip and support of local students and pastors.
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2007: Grace enters into mission partnership with 2 churches in Nablus, Palestine, part of the deepening work and commitment of the Ministry for Middle East Peace and Justice, est. 2004.