Grace Bible Chapel

New to Grace Bible Chapel

• Welcome to Grace

  GBC is a Bible believing Christ centered church which seeks to disciple believers and reach the lost. GBC is a non-denominational church which has recently moved to a beautiful 30 acre site in Rising Sun, Maryland.
  Contemporary Services: Each of our services features contemporary music yet we always incorporate 1 traditional hymn in our musical worship.
  Attendance: While attendance varies each week we are presently averaging about 700 in attendance every Sunday. This includes everyone from the youngest infant to the eldest among us.
  Upon entering our building you will be greeted by members of our HUB team (Helping You Belong). A HUB team member will gladly assist you to find the rooms you may need: such as the nursery, Sunday School rooms, rest rooms, library, and worship space.
  Life Groups: at GBC we encourage people to join a Life Group. Life Groups are made up of 8 to 12 adults who meet weekly in a member’s home for encouragement, study, prayer, and fellowship. We now have about 25 such groups incorporating about 250 people. Some groups involved children others do not. Groups are formed based on age, stage in life, geography, and availability. Pastor Heffelfinger, our worship leader, is our Pastor of Discipleship.

• What We Believe

  Below is a basic overview of our church Doctrine and what we believe.
  The Scriptures
  We believe that the sacred Scriptures in their original manuscripts are:

  1. wholly and verbally inspired and contain no errors of fact, doctrine, or judgment;
  2. the final revelation of God to man;
  3. the necessary and sufficient guide in all matters of faith and conduct.

  The Trinity
  We believe there are three persons in the Godhead, but that they are one in substance, so that each is as eternal and divine as the others are.

  • God the Father. We believe the Scriptures reveal God the Father as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of those who through faith have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. He, in His infinite grace, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, whom He also raised from the dead.

  • God the Son. We believe God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Creator of all. He became a man, born of the Virgin Mary, conceived in her through the Holy Spirit. He is the perfect Redeemer to those who accept Him by faith. He died a physical death, was buried, and arose bodily on the third day. He ascended to the right hand of the throne of God to become the believer’s faithful High Priest, the only mediator between God and man.
  • God the Holy Spirit. We believe God the Holy Spirit is a person, not an influence. He inspired the Holy Scriptures. He convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. He is the effective agent of the new birth and indwells every believer at the time of salvation.

  The Creation
  We believe the Genesis account of the creation of heaven and earth, and all contained therein, is to be accepted literally and historically. In the creation, God formed man of the dust of the ground and created man in His own image and likeness. Man did not develop from a lower stage of creation to a higher stage of perfection over a period of time.

  The Fall of Man
  We believe God created man in His own image and likeness, but that when man sinned, he fell under the penalty of spiritual and physical death, thus losing all spiritual life, and becoming dead in trespasses and sin. Man then became subject to the power of the devil and fleshly evil. Thus, death and sin come to all men by birth as well as by their own actions.

  The Virgin Birth
  We believe Jesus Christ is born of the Virgin Mary, conceived in her through the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way, as no one else was or ever shall be born of a woman.

  The Church
  Scripture speaks of both the local church and the universal church. The invisible church, or universal church, is the Body of Christ, consisting of all believers. We believe the local church is composed of believers who fellowship together in the Gospel. Every church has the right to self-government. Leadership is vested by Scripture in the Elders and Deacons.

  The Sacraments
  We believe there are two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The sacrament of baptism is water baptism, of a professed believer, in the name of the triune God. We hold that the mode of baptism is not the essential consideration; however, the mode of baptism practiced by this church is immersion. The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death until He comes again. Through it, believers, after solemn self-examination, remember and proclaim Christ’s death for their sins by the breaking of bread and drinking of the fruit of the vine.

  Salvation
  We believe in salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, who died and shed His blood as man’s substitutionary sacrifice. As such, salvation is freely offered to all. One’s own works can not earn this salvation, being by the grace of God and through one’s faith. A truly “born again” person is eternally secure in Christ.

  Eternal Destiny
  We believe in the immortality of the soul. Those who die without repenting, God will punish eternally in Hell according to their deeds. Believers in Christ will be eternally rewarded in heaven according to their deeds. The unrepentant and the believer alike will be conscious of their respective rewards.

  Miracles
  We believe in the miracles of the Bible. We believe there is an economy of divine power whereby often, even in miracles, natural forces are used. We also believe that there are miracles performed through the immediate agency of God, without the use of natural forces.

  Satan
  We believe Satan is a personal being who, having sinned against God, lost his former glorious state. He is the head of a demonic force that opposes all of God’s purposes. Satan is a defeated foe, having been conquered at the Cross of Calvary. His final judgment is still to come. He will then be eternally punished in the lake of fire.

  The Second Coming of Christ
  We believe in the personal, bodily, visible, premillennial, and imminent coming of Christ. His final judgment will take place after the millennium, when Christ will judge the wicked dead and usher in the eternal state.