Grace Community Church

Youth Ministry

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

Grades 6 through 12 meet on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the youth room (downstairs, off the fellowship hall). The shape:

Snacks and hangout time as students arrive.
A short Bible study or topical discussion.
Group prayer.
Games or unstructured time to close.

Beyond the weekly gathering, the youth ministry runs an annual spring retreat (see the event listing for the next one) and a quarterly service project — usually a Saturday spent working at a local food pantry, helping with yard work for elderly church members, or volunteering at one of the city’s community partners.

How to get involved

Students: just show up on a Wednesday. No pre-registration, no fee, nobody will single you out. Bring a friend.

Adults who’d like to help: email Ben. We need a couple of extra adult volunteers each week, plus help on retreats and service Saturdays. All volunteers complete a background check.

Plan Your Visit

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

We know walking into an unfamiliar church for the first time can feel daunting. This page is meant to take the mystery out of it so the only question left is whether to come.

When we meet

Sunday mornings at 10:30. Doors open at 10:00 — coffee and pastries are out in the foyer; a few people will say hello. The service starts on time and runs about 75 minutes.

We also meet Wednesday evenings at 7:00 for a hymn sing, an extended Bible study, and a closing prayer. That gathering is shorter (about an hour) and more conversational; it’s a good entry point if Sundays feel like too much commitment to start with.

Where we meet

123 Main Street, Springfield, IL 62701. The building is on the southwest corner of Main and Oak. Free parking in the lot behind the building, accessible from Oak Avenue. The main entrance is on Main Street; the accessible entrance and elevator are on Oak.

What to wear

Whatever you’d wear to a casual dinner with friends. Some people in the congregation wear a jacket and tie; most don’t. Jeans and a sweater are perfectly fine. Wear what’s comfortable — nobody will be looking.

What your kids will do

Childcare is provided for ages 0–4 during the Sunday-morning service. Drop your kids off in the nursery (across the foyer from the sanctuary, signs on the door) before the service starts; we’ll page you on the screen at the front of the sanctuary if your child needs you.

Kids ages 5 and up sit in the service with their families through the music, then are dismissed to Sunday-school classes during the sermon. They rejoin you for the closing prayer and benediction. There are activity bags at the back of the sanctuary if your child wants something to keep their hands busy during the music.

What to expect in the service

A simple liturgy: a call to worship, three or four hymns, prayers (corporate and pastoral), a Scripture reading, a 30-minute sermon, and closing. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of each month. The order of service is printed in the bulletin you’ll receive at the door.

We won’t ask you to introduce yourself, stand up, or do anything to single you out. There’s no offering plate passed during the service — there’s a giving box by the door if you want to give, but it’s not part of the worship liturgy.

What if I have questions

The pastors are at the back of the sanctuary after the service — if you’d like to introduce yourself, we’d love to meet you. Or send Pastor Tom an email and he’ll set up a coffee. Either is welcome; neither is required.

Small Groups

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

Small groups are where the deeper work of church life happens. Sundays are for the gathered congregation; small groups are for the kind of conversation, study, and prayer that needs a smaller table.

We currently run six active groups across Springfield, meeting in members’ homes one weeknight per week. Each group has 8 to 12 adults — large enough for a real conversation, small enough that nobody disappears.

What a typical meeting looks like

Two hours, roughly: a shared meal or dessert, a chapter or passage of study (groups choose their own material — currently we have groups working through Ephesians, the parables of Luke, J. I. Packer’s Knowing God, and a couple of others), prayer for one another, and time for catching up on each other’s weeks.

Joining a group

We re-form the small-group rosters each fall — there’s a sign-up Sunday in late August where members and friends of the church indicate which night of the week works best, what neighborhood they live in, and any preferences (a group with kids about the same age, a group focused on a particular kind of study, etc.). We try to honor preferences but the matching also accounts for group balance and host capacity.

If you’ve joined the church mid-year and want to be part of a group before the fall reset, email Mark — most groups have room for one or two additions.

Hosting a group

A new group needs a host home (someone whose space can fit 12 adults around a table) and a leader (typically a couple, but not always). If you’ve been at Grace for at least a year and feel ready to host or lead, talk to Mark.

Music Ministry

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

Music at Grace is anchored by a traditional choir of about 20 voices, augmented by a worship team of singers and instrumentalists for the more contemporary portions of the Sunday service. We sing a mix of traditional hymns, Psalms, and recent worship songs that hold up theologically.

Choir

The choir rehearses Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 in the sanctuary. Repertoire is a mix of historic anthems (Stanford, Howells, Tallis) and accessible contemporary settings. Sight-reading is helpful but not required — most pieces are taught by ear over the course of two or three rehearsals.

Choir sings every Sunday and leads the major services of the church year (Easter, Christmas Eve, Holy Week).

Worship team

The worship team — keyboard, acoustic guitar, bass, two or three vocalists — leads the more contemporary portions of the Sunday service (typically the opening song and one mid-service song; the rest of the music is choir-led). The team rehearses Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 10:15 before the service.

How to get involved

Singers and instrumentalists at any level of training are welcome. Email Miriam for an introductory conversation — there’s no formal audition, but Miriam likes to talk through what you sing or play and where it might fit in the existing rotation.

Contact

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

Where to find us

Grace Community Church 123 Main Street Springfield, IL 62701

Open in maps

How to reach the staff


Pastor Tom Whitfield (Lead Pastor)	tom@gracecommunity.example
Pastor Mark Inouye (Discipleship)	mark@gracecommunity.example
Ben Carter (Children & Youth)	ben@gracecommunity.example
Miriam Olesinski (Music)	music@gracecommunity.example
Office	office@gracecommunity.example · (217) 555-0142

The office is staffed Tuesday–Friday, 9 AM to 1 PM. Outside those hours, email gets a response faster than the phone.

Giving

Grace is supported entirely by the freewill offerings of its members and friends. There’s a giving box by the sanctuary entrance for in-person gifts. For online giving, donate here — gifts are processed by a third party; the church doesn’t store any payment information. Mailed checks should be made out to “Grace Community Church” and sent to the address above.

Prayer requests

Email Pastor Tom or Pastor Mark directly, or use the prayer-request cards in the foyer on Sunday mornings. Requests stay between the pastors and the small prayer team unless you ask us to share them with the congregation.

Children's Ministry

2026-05-27T22:46:27.695566006Z

The children’s ministry runs alongside the Sunday morning service: nursery childcare for ages 0–4 from 10:00 to 11:45, and Sunday-school classes for ages 5–12 during the 30-minute sermon (kids sit with their families through the music, then are dismissed before the sermon).

Sunday-school classes are taught by a rotation of trained volunteers from the congregation. The curriculum walks through the major narratives of the Bible on a three-year cycle, age-appropriate at each level. Snacks are provided.

How to get involved

If you’d like to help — teaching, assisting in the nursery, baking snacks, or just being an extra adult in the room — email Ben. All volunteers complete a background check and a brief safety training before serving with kids.

Calendar

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Every event on the church calendar, in a month-by-month grid. Click any event to read more. For a chronological list view, see Events.

What We Believe

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Grace Community Church is rooted in the historic Christian faith confessed by the church across continents and centuries. The summary below is not exhaustive — for the full statement of faith we subscribe to, see the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Westminster Standards. But these are the convictions that shape what you’ll see and hear when you visit.

The gospel

The good news that Jesus Christ — fully God and fully man — lived the perfectly obedient life we should have lived, died the death we deserved to die for our sins, rose bodily from the grave on the third day, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return to make all things new. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

Scripture

The Bible — both Old and New Testaments — is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. We preach through whole books of the Bible because we believe every part of it matters and every part of it preaches Christ.

The Trinity

There is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.

The church

The church is the people of God, gathered around Word and Sacrament, sent into the world. Membership matters — it’s how the church visibly knows whom to love, whom to feed, and whom to bury. We celebrate the two sacraments Christ instituted: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

How we treat each other

The two great commandments — love God, love your neighbor — are the lens through which we read every disputed question. We aim for a community where members can disagree about second- and third-tier issues (the timing of the millennium, the right way to educate children, who to vote for) without breaking fellowship over them.

What we’d love to talk about

Any of the above. Bring your questions — sincere ones get sincere answers. We don’t have all of them; we’ll tell you when we don’t.

Youth Spring Retreat

2027-04-23T00:00:00Z

The annual spring retreat for youth in grades 6 through 12. Three days at Camp Hawthorne — about an hour southeast of Springfield. The shape:

Friday evening: arrival and dinner; ice-breakers; opening session.
Saturday: morning Bible study, free time on the lake or the hiking trails, afternoon free, evening session, late-night s’mores and conversation.
Sunday: morning worship at the camp chapel, packing, lunch, depart by 1 PM.

Cost is $80 per youth (covers transportation, lodging, all meals). Scholarships are available — talk to Ben Carter quietly if cost is a barrier; we don’t want any youth to miss this for financial reasons.

Sign up at the welcome table after the Sunday service or email Ben. Spots are limited to 30 youth and chaperones; first come, first served.

Easter Sunday Service

2027-03-28T00:00:00Z

Easter Sunday is the high point of the church year — the morning we gather to celebrate the resurrection. The service runs longer than a typical Sunday (about 95 minutes), the choir leads worship, and we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

If you’re planning to bring family or friends, a few practical notes:

The parking lot fills up early; consider arriving by 10:00 to find a spot.
Childcare is available at the usual capacity for ages 0–4.
A reception with coffee, tea, and pastries follows the service in the foyer.
Easter is one of the two Sundays a year (Christmas Eve being the other) when the church is at its fullest. Bring a friend.

Men's Breakfast

2026-08-01T00:00:00Z

The men of the church gather on the first Saturday of each month for breakfast. The shape is informal: eggs, sausage, biscuits, coffee — Ben Carter cooks — followed by a short devotional and prayer for the men in attendance and their families.

Wives and friends are welcome. Kids old enough to sit at a table are welcome too. The whole thing wraps up by 9:30 so the day isn’t lost.

If you’re new to the church and looking for a low-stakes way to meet people, this is a good first stop.

Life at Grace

2025-09-01T00:00:00Z

A few quiet shots around the building and grounds — the kind of photos prospective visitors ask about most often. If you’d like a tour in person, email Pastor Tom and he’ll set one up.

Summer Picnic 2025

2025-07-13T00:00:00Z

The annual summer picnic moved to Washington Park this year — the pavilion, the playground, and the lake all in walking distance, which solved a lot of logistics from previous years.

A handful of new families joined us for the day; if you’re reading this and weren’t there, get yourself on the events list for next year.

Easter Sunday 2025

2025-04-20T00:00:00Z

The fullest service of the year. The sanctuary was at capacity and the overflow chairs were full — about 240 in attendance. Three baptisms (one young adult, two young children) made the morning especially meaningful.

The lily cross is a tradition stretching back to the church’s founding — built up Saturday afternoon by anyone willing to bring a lily.

Holy Week Prayer Vigil

2025-04-17T00:00:00Z

A 24-hour prayer vigil starting at 7:00 PM on Maundy Thursday and ending at 7:00 PM on Good Friday. The sanctuary stays open and quiet for the full duration; we ask members and friends of the church to sign up for one or more one-hour slots so the building is staffed and prayed in continuously.

The shape of an hour is up to you. Some people pray quietly through their own concerns. Some pray through a list of requests left on the prayer table at the back of the sanctuary. Some read scripture aloud. Some sit in silence. There is no expected liturgy — only that the building be a place of prayer for those 24 hours.

Christmas Eve 2024

2024-12-24T00:00:00Z

The Christmas Eve service is the second-fullest service of the year (Easter is the first). The shape — candlelight, processional, the prologue of John, and a long carol-sing to close — has been the same since the church was founded.

A few hundred people through the doors that night, including a number of folks visiting family in town. The choir had been rehearsing the processional for six weeks; you could hear it.

The Light Shines in the Darkness

2024-12-15T00:00:00Z

The opening of John’s gospel is unlike anything else in the New Testament. There’s no genealogy, no shepherds, no manger. John starts before all of that — before time, before the world, before light itself. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is what the church remembers in Advent: not just the birth of a baby in Bethlehem, but the descent of the eternal Word into human flesh. The God who spoke the universe into being chose to become a child who couldn’t yet speak. The light that no darkness can overcome stepped into the darkness himself.

What John means by “the Word”

The Greek word logos — translated “Word” — was loaded with meaning for both Jews and Greeks. For Jews, it called to mind the way God created in Genesis 1: by speaking. “And God said, let there be light, and there was light.” For Greeks, logos meant the rational principle that ordered the universe. John takes both threads and weaves them into one claim: the Word that created all things, the logos that orders all things, became a man we could touch.

The shock of the incarnation

Verse 14 is where the shock lands: “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Greek for “dwelt” is eskēnōsen — literally, “pitched his tent.” The infinite God put on a body and moved into the neighborhood. He got hungry. He got tired. He cried at his friend’s funeral. He bled. The doctrine of the incarnation is not a metaphor for God-feels-our-pain. It’s the historical fact that he actually felt it.

What this means for Advent

The light shines in the darkness — that’s the present tense, not just the past. The darkness John names — moral darkness, the darkness of grief, the darkness of a world that has not yet been put right — is real. But it has not overcome the light. It will not. The same Word who entered the world the first time will return to finish what he started.

That’s what we wait for in Advent. Not just to remember a baby’s birth. To rehearse the longing of a people who know the king has come and is coming back.

Justified by Faith

2024-10-13T00:00:00Z

After two and a half chapters of bad news — that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that there is none righteous, no, not one — Paul finally gets to the good news. Verses 21 through 26 are arguably the densest paragraph in the New Testament. Every word matters.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe… (Romans 3:21–22)

The “but now” is a pivot. Everything before it has been preparing the ground. Everything after it builds on what these six verses establish.

The puzzle Paul is solving

How can God forgive sinners without compromising his justice? A judge who pardons the guilty without grounds is not a just judge — he’s a corrupt one. If God simply waved away our sin, he would not be holy. But if he punishes our sin in full, none of us survive. The cross is God’s solution to a puzzle he set himself: how to be both perfectly just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

How the cross solves it

Christ stands in our place. Our sin is reckoned to him; his righteousness is reckoned to us. The transaction is sometimes called “double imputation” — our debt becomes his to pay; his obedience becomes ours to inherit. God’s justice is satisfied (the sin is punished, in Christ), and God’s love is displayed (the sinner is forgiven, in Christ). Both at once.

What faith adds

Faith is not a meritorious act that earns this exchange. Faith is the empty hand that receives it. Paul will spend chapter 4 driving that point home with the example of Abraham. For now, the simplest possible summary: justification is by grace alone (God’s free gift), through faith alone (the receiving instrument), in Christ alone (the only ground), to the glory of God alone.

The same gospel that saved Abraham, that converted Augustine, that warmed Wesley’s heart, is the gospel preached to you this morning. There is no other.

The Gospel of God

2024-09-08T00:00:00Z

Paul’s letter to the Romans is the longest sustained argument in the New Testament. It’s the letter the Reformation hung on, the letter Augustine read in the garden, the letter that made Wesley’s heart “strangely warmed.” We’re going to spend the next eight months walking through it slowly.

The opening seventeen verses are Paul’s self-introduction — who he is (a slave of Christ Jesus, set apart for the gospel), who he’s writing to (the saints in Rome, a church he hadn’t yet visited), and what he’s writing about (the gospel of God, promised beforehand through the prophets).

The thesis

Verses 16 and 17 are the thesis statement of the entire letter:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Three claims are packed in there. First, the gospel is power. Second, the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. Third, the way that righteousness becomes ours is by faith. Paul will spend chapters 1 through 11 unpacking those three claims, then chapters 12 through 16 working out their implications for ordinary Christian life.

What “righteousness” means here

The word translated “righteousness” — dikaiosynē in Greek — has a forensic edge. It’s not primarily about behavior; it’s about standing. To be “righteous” is to be in the right with God, to have the verdict on your life come back as “innocent.” Paul’s claim is that the gospel announces a way for sinners to receive that verdict, not by their own performance but by the work of Christ received through faith.

That sets up the question Paul will answer through the rest of the letter: how can a holy God justly declare guilty sinners righteous?

What this means for us

Two things, even in this opening passage. One: the gospel is not optional Christian content. It’s the power of God for salvation. We don’t graduate from it. Two: the news of the gospel is for everyone — Jew and Greek, male and female, every nation and tribe and tongue. The church is meant to be as wide as the gospel itself.

We’ll keep walking through Romans week by week. Bring your Bible. Better yet, read the chapter ahead each Saturday so the Sunday sermon lands in already-tilled soil.

Wednesday Evening Bible Study

2024-09-04T00:00:00Z

A weekly midweek gathering — about an hour from start to finish. The shape:

Twenty minutes of hymn-singing, accompanied by Miriam at the piano.
Thirty minutes of Bible study, led by Pastor Tom or Pastor Mark. We’re typically working through a different book of the Bible than the Sunday morning series — currently the book of James.
Ten minutes of corporate and conversational prayer to close.

No preparation required. Bring a Bible if you have one; we’ll have extras at the door if you don’t. Coffee and tea are out from 6:30.

Childcare is not provided on Wednesday evenings, but kids of all ages are welcome to participate alongside their parents — the format is more conversational than a Sunday-morning sermon.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

2024-08-25T00:00:00Z

Psalm 23 is the most-memorized passage in the Bible after the Lord’s Prayer. Six short verses, written by a king who had once been a shepherd, that have been read at countless funerals, recited at countless bedsides, and prayed in every imaginable circumstance for three thousand years.

This morning I want to walk through it slowly — phrase by phrase, the way you’d walk through a familiar room where you’ve never quite noticed the woodwork before.

“The Lord is my shepherd”

Six words. The rest of the psalm is commentary on those six words. Notice three things:

First, the proper name. “The Lord” — capital L-O-R-D in your English Bible — translates the Hebrew YHWH, the personal name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. David is not making a generic claim about a vague divinity; he’s naming the specific God of Israel, the God who delivers, the God who keeps covenant.

Second, the metaphor. “Is my shepherd.” David himself had been a shepherd. He knew exactly what shepherds do — they lead, they feed, they protect, they go after the lost one, they sometimes use the rod on the wandering. The metaphor is not sentimental. It’s competent.

Third, the possessive. “My shepherd.” Not “the shepherd in general” — the kind of vague spirituality that comforts no one. The psalm is intensely personal. The shepherd is mine.

“I shall not want”

The verb is in the imperfect — it could be translated “I lack nothing” or “I will lack nothing.” Both are true. The psalm doesn’t promise no hardship; it promises no insufficiency. The same shepherd who leads through green pastures also leads through the valley of the shadow of death — and in both, there is no real lack of what we ultimately need.

What “want” doesn’t mean

It does NOT mean we always get what we ask for. It does NOT mean Christians are exempt from poverty, hunger, or grief. It DOES mean that God provides what is necessary for the journey — sometimes more, sometimes only that. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” The psalm is the answer: painful or not, the shepherd is mine, and I shall not want.

The valley

Verse 4 is where the psalm earns its place at deathbeds: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Notice what changes in that verse. Up until now, David has been talking ABOUT God — “He makes me lie down… He leads me…” In verse 4, David turns and talks TO God: “You are with me.” The valley is the place where theology becomes prayer.

The valley is real. The fear is named. But the presence is more real than the valley.

“Goodness and mercy shall follow me”

The Hebrew verb translated “follow” is more vivid than that. It means “pursue” — the same verb used elsewhere of an army hunting down its enemies. Goodness and mercy, David says, are not behind us at a polite distance. They are chasing us down. The hound of heaven, in another writer’s image.

“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”

The psalm ends not with the present comfort but with the future hope. The shepherd who walks with us now is the same God whose house we’ll inhabit forever. Whatever the valley today, the destination is the table. That’s the gospel pattern: the cross before the crown, the shadow before the morning, the valley before the home.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.