Connecting
While you can tell a lot about a church from attending on Sunday mornings, you feel like you start to belong when you get more involved. For adults, serving in a ministry or becoming involved in a community group or attending men’s or women’s ministry events can result in more relationships and connections. For kids and older students, we offer Kidz ROC and Immerse on Wednesday nights and Infuse on Sunday nights. We even have a College & 20’s ministry that meets once a month. Visit our Connect page to learn more.
Going Deeper
After spending some time with fellow believers here at GREFC and learning about our church, you might want to delve deeper into our core beliefs, doctrines, theology and possibly consider becoming a member. We offer a membership information class for those interested in delving deeper or considering membership.
In the class you will learn:
- The background of the Evangelical Free Church of America as well as of the Grand Rapids Evangelical Free Church in Minnesota
- The church’s doctrinal beliefs
- The church’s constitution and bylaws
In addition, the class offers a SHAPE profile which is a series of assessments that will help you determine how God uniquely made you to serve Him and others. These assessments include:
- Spiritual Gifts: a survey to help determine the spiritual gifts God has given you to benefit the body of believers
- Heart: assessment of your passions including your role (what you like to do), people (who you like to help), and causes (what you would like to see changed
- Abilities: the natural talents and skills you were born with
- Personality: the Myers/Briggs inventory is used to determine four dimensions of your personality that will determine how and where you will use your spiritual gifts and abilities
- Experiences: assess how your past experiences have grown you into who you are today through past ministry, work, educational, spiritual and painful experiences.
Application and Interview
After completion of the class, those wishing to continue on to membership will be given an application to fill out. After completing the application and giving it to the Elder Board to review, we will schedule an interview by the Elder Board and Senior Pastor. It is preferred that husbands and wives complete the interview together.
The interview is casual and not meant to cause anxiety. You are simply asked to give your faith story of how you came to know and follow Jesus. You may be asked some questions about your story or anything in your application. You are also given the opportunity to ask questions of the Elders and the Senior Pastor.
At the end of the meeting, the Elders will vote on whether or not to recommend you as a member to the congregation. Your membership is complete when you are voted in by the congregation during a quarterly congregational meeting.
Please visit the Events Calendar to find the next Discover | Connect | Serve class.
