Grace Chapel is a group of believers that God has called out to His honor and glory. We believe that only by God’s grace alone can those who are bound in their sin be freed to new life in Christ. We hold to the distinctives of the Reformation: salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, from the authority of Scripture alone, to God’s glory alone.
HISTORY
In 2003, Grace Chapel was founded by Pastor Ian White. A few years later the Lord brought two men that served as Pastors at Orlando Grace Church (Pastor Mike White and Pastor Ken Wells). Pastor Mike graduated from the Masters College in California under the ministry of John MacArthur. Pastor Ken had graduated RTS and was seeking to be sent as a missionary church planter in Italy. In 2006, Grace Chapel recognized the Lord’s calling on Ken and sent him and his family out to Italy to plant a church in Italy. In 2008, Grace Chapel Chapel extended a call to receive Chris Hatton on the pastoral staff. Pastor Chris studied at David Bible College and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2014, Grace Chapel ordained Peter Catalano into the pastoral staff. Pastor Peter studied at Maranatha Bible College and Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary.
MISSION
Worship
The common New Testament word for worship is proskuneo, which means “to kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate oneself.” The idea of worship is that one prostrates himself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. In a Christian context, we simply apply this to God and prostrate ourselves before Him in respect and honor, paying Him the glory due His superior character.
Essentially, then, worship is giving – giving honor and respect to God. That is why we, as Christians, gather together on Sunday. We don’t gather to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we gather to give honor to God. The sermon and the music are just to be the stimuli that create the desire in our hearts to honor Him.
Fellowship
In 1 John 1:3 it says, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” Anybody in fellowship with Jesus Christ is also in fellowship with anybody else in fellowship with Jesus Christ. This is our common ground. It is not social, economic, intellectual, cosmetic, or anything else superficial. Our common ground is that which is pulsing through the life of every Christian–the heartbeat of God. Our common ground is that we possess a common eternal life and are children in the same family.
Witness
As followers of Christ, we are called to be witnesses of what Jesus has done in us and for us. To point people to Christ, we don’t need to be able to explain every theological issue or answer every question. What we must do is explain what we have witnessed in our own lives through the cross and the resurrection of the Savior. Even better is that we don’t have to rely on ourselves alone to do this. Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).