Our Mission

At GPC we aim to be a welcoming community, meeting in faith to worship and explore God’s Word, discerning His will in our lives, encouraging and caring for one another; and seeking to reach others with Jesus’ transforming message of grace, love and forgiveness through prayer, witness and service.

Our mission statement is as much about what we want to do as it is about what we actually do - we recognise there is always room for improvement.  There is a lot in this statement so let's break it down..

Meeting Together

Corporately: We meet together regularly as a body of Christians for worship and fellowship.

In Small Groups: We run a number of weekly home groups. We run a Sunday Club for the children with occasional special events.

Personally: Elders try and meet regularly with members of the congregation for one-to-one chats. 

Building Each Other Up

Corporately: We are interested in each other's struggles and challenges and support each other in prayer, teaching and practical matters.

In Small Groups: We can discuss and support each other through the challenges of life and our walk with God.

Personally: We build personal relationships with other members of the congregation and support them through personal challenges they would prefer to keep to themselves.

Worship

Corporately: We meet regularly for communal worship as part of a wider service of teaching, providing a balance between the older traditional hymns and modern songs of praise.  We also meet for focused praise times encouraging boisterous singing and music.

In Small Groups: We worship God through a more detailed study of His Word and what it means for our lives. We praise Him in prayer and sometimes song.

Personally: We worship God in the way we live our lives for him.

Witness

Corporately: We remind people we are here and who we are.  We try to "raise the rafters" in our worship services and encourage people from outside the church to join us.  We stream our services on line and we conduct services on national television.  We work together with other churches in Greystones to present a united demonstration of Christian Faith in Greystones.  We reach out the Greystones community with our very popular Carol Services.

In Small Groups: We gently encourage people to explore God's Word and share our personal testimonies, of what God has done for us.

Personally: We live our lives for Christ, demonstrating faith in action and engaging in gentle conversation. 

Prayer

Corporately: We spend time as a church praying for our members, our community, our nation and issues affecting the wider world.  We give thanks to God for his goodness and believe that God answers all our prayers in his own time. We allow time for quiet personal prayer within our group meetings.

In Small Groups: We pray for issues impacting our small groups, we pray as a Kirk Session for the life of the church, we commit to pray for issues that people bring to our prayer-request group. We pray for the broader church at prayer meetings both before our church services and on other occasions. We seek to offer a prayer ministry for those requesting personal in-person prayer

Personally: We encourage everyone to spend time in prayer each day, be it a dedicated prayer time or a hastily offered prayer in response to a particular situation.

Service

Corporately: Kirk Session and Committee are our primary corporate opportunities for church service.  Members of Kirk Session and Committee volunteer in other capacities with Presbytery, Peacehaven Trust, Tiglin, PA Foundation and Tritonville Close.

In Small Groups: There are many opportunities for service with smaller groups such as our Building Committee, Catering Committee, AV Group, Music Group, Eco Group etc.

Personally: We encourage volunteering and especially the recognition and application of personal skills.

Exploring God's Word

Corporately: We share a bible text each week, often exploring a particular theme over a number of weeks.  People are encouraged to take notes and apply the words of God to their own lives.

In Small Groups: Our home groups are focused on bible study and discussion.

Personally: Personal bible study is actively encouraged with online bible plans and the provision of bible reading notes from UCB.

Reaching Others

Corporately: We livestream our services and host services for national television. We participate in community events and host local schools. We rent out our hall to community groups and advertise our activities to these groups. We run a toddler group for the wider community, welcoming the "unchurched" to our church surroundings. We try to offer a big welcome to visitors. We use social media to reach out to a wider audience including Facebook, Instagram and our website and have recently added video-shorts to this method of engagement.

In Small Groups: We welcome non-church members to our home groups.

Personally: We encourage everyone in their personal witness and in inviting people along to our meetings