Original QR Landing Page - Living Grace Fellowship

This is a text reader for the article below:

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Who are we?

Well, first off Living Grace Fellowship [a.k.a. – Grace Life] is a church. We meet in a home for many reasons, but the most important reason is it’s personal.

We are not a church you can disappear in. If you show up, you will be noticed and that introduces one of the primary reasons why churches exist.

According to the Bible, church is an assembly of believers which is to say – Christians.

As such it is NOT a place of evangelism but rather of spiritual growth.

It is not a place to bring the lost so the pastor can evangelize them for you, but a place to be trained and equipped to share the gospel yourself and live it out before the lost. (1 Cor. 11:17-32; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Phil. 1:27)

Our beliefs:

Above any other belief is that Jesus Christ is Lord and that salvation (relationship with God) is exclusively through faith in Him and confession of Him AS YOUR Lord. (Please see – Who is Jesus & How to be Saved).

Beyond this, our views on scripture are both simple and rather developed, but simply put, we believe the scriptures to be 100% inspired by God and entirely trustworthy in its teachings. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

We have no affiliation with any denomination, and our doctrine is exclusively drawn from the Bible.

The scriptures are a revelation of Who God is and as such cannot be outdated or outmoded or in any way irrelevant for any time period. As such we teach the Word of God without apology and attempt to stay within its clearly intended meaning.

We believe that the gifts and callings of God outlined in the New Testament are still in effect today and that growth into the likeness of our Lord Jesus depends upon each member being faithful stewards over the gifts they have received – ministering it to each other in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Our ‘Statement of Faith‘ is, as I mentioned above, rather developed. We do this both for practical and legal reasons. At the beginning of our ‘Statement of Faith‘ is a summary which can also be downloaded as a pdf file. Under that summary is the full ‘Statement of Faith‘ which remains a work in progress.

Our mission…

Our mission is what we believe SHOULD be the mission of every church. The various churches in the New Testament did not each have a unique “mission statement”. The mission of every church in the Bible was to grow and mature Christians into the image of Jesus Christ and equip them for kingdom work.

In our times together we focus on learning about and living out the purposes of God for His people as described in the scriptures. We do this through teaching, reading the scriptures, worship, discussion and even games from time to time.

We believe the job of pastors is to equip believers to be living testimonies of Jesus – including His Lordship and saving power as well as to share the gospel with accuracy and clarity.

How are we different?

We differ from mainstream churches in many ways…

Perhaps the two greatest differences is that we do not actively seek new membership through advertising, nor do we encourage attendance from non-believers.

We believe the church should grow organically by the direction of Christ, its true head, and that the church is an assembly of BELIEVERS – not unbelievers.

We believe that ministry to non-believers is to take place OUTSIDE the physical walls of the local church and that all evangelical efforts are to be on the part of the attending believers…not the church.

Sheep make sheep…Shepherds lead and feed.

We believe that in order to be effective, churches should maintain a healthy size, which – contrary to popular belief – has more to do with not growing too big, than being too small.

By this we mean, that if the church grows so large that the individual members are not intimately known by their pastors nor the pastors by them, it can no longer function as a legitimate “sheepfold” (church).

Shepherds are to “know” their sheep…they are responsible and answerable to God for their spiritual development. This cannot be done if the pastors cannot have direct and relational contact with each and every member with regularity.

Also, in order to grow under a shepherd’s care, sheep must know and trust them. This implies a level of relationship which goes far beyond the traditional “modern” model of church.

Christianity is, at its core, a relationship with God and His people and we believe that a community of believers which has grown large enough to “disappear in” – has become a place for social enjoyment and activity – but not sustained and monitored spiritual growth.

For more on church and why we gather see – Why Church? & Why we gather?

When do we meet?

Currently we meet on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

Sunday mornings are more focused upon growing up spiritually. Learning how to live out our faith, which is the first and most important step in sharing our faith.

Wednesday nights we are in a continuing series called, ‘Thru the Bible’. In it we have been working our way through the Bible, beginning in Genesis on through to Revelation. It is a type of study and exploration. Even those who have read through the Bible many times have never studied their way through the Bible. We began this journey back in 2017 and are still on our first trip through. If you want to come to know the scriptures on a deeper level than a surface reading, you will find Wednesday nights helpful.

For meeting times and other specifics see – When we Meet.

Can I just show up?

Sure you can! In fact, now that you are already on our website, you can simply click the ‘When we meet‘ button on the menu above and it will give you details. Being a small church, we sometimes forgo a meeting time but that will ALWAYS be announced on THAT page as well as on the sidebar of every page on this website.

What should I wear?

Something comfortable. We have no restrictions, we only ask that you dress modestly.

Can I meet with the pastor?

Absolutely! In fact, in some ways it would be a smart first step. It would allow you to ask your questions and get a feel for the church itself. My contact information is below.

Membership

We don’t really do that. Seeking membership somehow seems more like a club or social group than a Christian family. It can also be used as a type of obligation and coercion. We have no interest in that.

Simply out, you either belong here or you don’t and that is something you and the Lord have to determine.

How can we be contacted?

Well, my name is Mark Woodson and I am currently the only pastor at this church. So I’m the guy you will be reaching out to and you may feel free to do so by phone or email.

My church number is (941) 681-0834

My church email address is mark@livinggracefellowship.net

You may also simply click here – “Contact Us” and it will take you to our “Contact Us” page.

I am just one man, so if I miss your call, PLEASE leave a voicemail with contact information and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Thank you and God Bless!

~ Mark

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!