GRACE is God’s saving kindness towards sinners. We are created in the image of God for the sake of imaging God. Our attempts to live life on our own terms has disconnected us from God, but God has graciously moved towards us in the person of Jesus in order to reconcile us to Himself and renew us in His image.
OUR NAME
PEACE, aka“shalom,” is not just the absence of conflict—it is human beings living in a right relationship with God, one another, and the world around us. Shalom is the way things are supposed to be. God’s grace to us in Jesus results in God’s peace—a peace that begins with God but gets worked into all our other relationships as well.
CHURCH is a community of reconciled reconcilers. We were once alienated from God and strangers to one another, but God has brought us near. Despite our differences (race, class, politics, education, etc.), we are relearning what it means to love God, one another, and this world.
VERMONT is a beautiful place that gives us glimpses of God’s shalom, but it is also a broken place that desperately needs it too. Vermont is not simply where we live —Vermont is the people and place we are called to serve, embodying God’s grace and peace in humble, celebratory, and sacrificial ways.
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
OUR VALUES
WE ARE ALL IMAGE-BEARERS.
No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you believe — you are made in the image of God. You have intrinsic dignity, worth, and purpose. You matter, and your story is important to God and to us.
Genesis 1:26-28 / Matthew 22:15-22 / Colossians 3:9-11
WE ARE A TEAM.
Grace & Peace Church VT is a community that feels like family and works like a team, everybody bringing their gifts to the table for the benefit of the church and the community-at-large.
Ephesians 2:17-22 / Acts 2:42-47 / Romans 12:3-8
WE ARE HOSPITABLE.
At the heart of Christian worship is a reconciling meal. As a people called together by God and shaped and sustained by this meal, we are committed to loving those who are like us and unlike us. We know deep in our gut that Church is a place of “unlikely friendship.”
Luke 19:1-10 / 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 / Matthew 26:26-28 / Psalm 34:8
WE ARE HERE.
Where we are matters. God has us in certain places, amongst certain people, for a reason. God wants His goodness to go into our homes, neighborhoods, and work-places like pollen on a bee—blessing both people and place in ways that are personal, tangible, and kind.
Jeremiah 29:4-7 / Matthew 5:13-16 / Matthew 6:9-10
WE ARE ALWAYS GROWING.
No person or place is a “lost cause” or “too far gone.” Jesus loves us enough to meet us where we are at, and He loves us enough not to leave us there. Grace & Peace Church VT is kind of kindergarten (or if you like, a “kinder garden”) where, under His care, we are re-learning what it means to bear God’s image. This takes time and perseverance. None of us has it all together; we are all works in progress.
Revelation 21:5 / John 11:1-44 / Ephesians 2:10; 5:1-2 / Romans 5:1-11; 8:22-39
