Our Community Groups are small communities of believers meeting in homes throughout Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano Counties during the week.
The primary goal for small group meetings at GBC is twofold: We desire to see people personally knowing and trusting Christ for all that he is and all that he has done. In addition, we desire that through Christian community people live with Christ as Lord, which means remaining faithful and submitting to Christ in every sphere of life[1].
At Grace Bible Church we are committed to the biblical gospel as not just the way into the kingdom, but as the way to address every problem and every step of growth along the way. It is the gospel that reveals not only our justification in Christ, but the means of our progressive sanctification in Christ. “The gospel is God’s work of reconciliation, a work of restoring the community of God and humanity. This most profound healing power is found in the cross, where the curse of sin is broken. On the cross, the Father forsook the Son, breaking an eternal communion for the sake of the restored communion of God and man. Christians are thus bound together in a new society of those who belong to Christ, and we are being transformed by him.”[2]
Hence, it is the gospel that creates an entirely new biblical self-image. An essential component of this biblical self-image is the realization that the gospel has brought us into a vital and living union with our brothers and sisters that is distinguished by our love for one another. In short, the gospel creates a new community that is both the end of the gospel and the means of spreading the gospel.
Many of the biblical commands related to fellowship have become increasingly difficult to fulfill in our disjointed contemporary society. These especially include commands for Christians to minister, encourage, build up, and love one another (Hebrews 3:13; Galatians 6:2; Colossians 3:16; James 5:16; 1 Peter 4:8-9; Ephesians 4:32; etc.). The very “one anotherness” of these commands necessitates Christian fellowship contexts small enough for our ministry to become truly mutual. Community Groups are the first place that many of our members turn to in order to find such mutual care and concern. As a result, Community Groups play an integral part in the pastoral care of GBC.
We are told in Scripture that God freely distributes spiritual gifts to His body as He wills for the purpose of edification, so that we might become mature in Christ (Acts 20:32; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 14:12, 26; Hebrews 2:4). Community groups are a place for these gifts to be discovered and developed. Members are encouraged to invest themselves in relationships with others as stewards of God’s multifaceted grace (1 Peter 4:10), not merely to “attend” or “consume”.
View the location map of our current Community Groups.
For more information about a group that meets in your area, please call the church office at (925) 676-1584 or send us an e-mail at gbc@graceforus.org.
[1] Marshall, C (1995). Growth Groups. Sydney:Mathias Media. p18
[2] Marshall, C (1995). Growth Groups. Sydney:Mathias Media. p26