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, we offer Micro Groups that meet at various times during the week, and Immerse & Infuse, our middle and high school groups, on Wednesday 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 these classes you will learn:
- Who We Are: 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 and values, and the church’s constitution and bylaws.
- Who You Are: This 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:
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- 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 identify different aspects of personality that will help you see the way God made you and the unique way you fit into the church
- Experiences: assess how your past experiences have grown you into who you are today through past ministry, work, educational, spiritual and painful experiences.
- Where We’re Going: Learn about our vision and mission, our discipleship pathway and what makes GREFC unique from other churches.
Application and Interview
After completion of the classes, 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..
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 GREFC classes.
