Ministries
– https://www.gracebibleny.org/regular-ministries
The core principle of the philosophy of ministry of GBC arises from Ephesians 4:11-16. We are praying for a man that has a clear understanding and vision of his own ministry in equipping the people in the congregation for ministry. It is not expected that any pastor can do this on his own, but it is expected he will be involved and give oversight to equipping the saints through Bible teaching, skill development, and encouragement to the saints in pursing and developing the ministries the Lord lays on their hearts. He will need to be able to give godly oversight to the ministries within the congregation without micro-managing. He will also need to be able to train new leaders so that the church can both expand its ministries and replace leaders who move away, decline in their abilities or pass away.
Grace Bible Church is known for its strong Biblical teaching ministries from the pulpit and in our various Bible studies. Seven of our men are able to preach (three of them are very good) when needed at GBC and to provide pulpit supply for other churches. This is the result of active leadership development in Biblical knowledge and ministry skills.
The focus of our worship services is the sermon and prayer. The sermon is usually 45-60 minutes in length, and there are at least three prayers led from the pulpit and one period of congregational prayer each Sunday. The musical aspects of worship are somewhat eclectic which reflects the diversity within the congregation and what musicians we have available. Hymns are usually in the mix more often than not, but styles used range from traditional, to CCM, to bluegrass. We have a well-written music policy that encourages participation while also setting up guardrails to ensure. Biblically sound lyrics and styles that are fitting to the congregation (See: http://www.gracebibleny.org/music_policy
We place great emphasis on personal discipleship as a means of helping Christians to walk well with Christ, assimilate new people by developing close mentor / disciple relationships, and train people in personal ministry. More than half of the men and women in the church have been through personal discipleship, and many have proven capable of discipling others. We a very active and good ministry to students at the Culinary Institute of America with discipleship being a key component. Our effort is to help them mature in their walk with the Lord and equip them to personally disciple others so that they can continue with that same mindset of ministry for the rest of their lives.
We are very active in community evangelism in street witnessing, events and training using material from The Way of the Master. As a priority ministry listed in Eph. 4:11, we have a part time evangelist who teaches classes and takes people into the community to learn to evangelize.
We financially support seven missionary families and seven missions organizations with many others supported in prayer. We view our missionaries as extensions of our church and support them accordingly. Three of our missionaries are now widows. A regular part of our worship service is an update on and prayer for a missionary. We have an extensive music policy to guide selection of and meaningful support to our missionaries. (See: https://www.gracebibleny.org/missions_policy And https://www.gracebibleny.org/missionaries)
Because we strongly encourage those in the congregation to be personally involved in ministry there have been two wonderful consequences. First, though our Deacons and Deaconesses are proactive in making sure needs within the congregation are met, most of the time needs are met naturally because a large portion of the congregation use their spiritual gifts among one another. Second, we have had many specific ministries arise over our history as members respond to the Lord’s prompting to meet specific ministry needs. Some of these, such as our men’s Bible study, have continued for decades. Others, such as Girl Time, continued only as long as their was a need and the people to run the ministry.
Most, but not all of our current ministries can be found here: https://www.gracebibleny.org/regular-ministries. (A history time-line of significant church events and ministries can be found here: https://www.gracebibleny.org/gbc-history)
We have our own homeschool cooperative that is under the authority of the GBC elders and is directed by GBC members. We welcome people from other churches, but they must agree to abide by our doctrine and policies. All of the families within it have similar values in child rearing and philosophy of education. The result is that they have become close to and supportive of one another. What is taught varies from year to year with the only class required for everyone being the Bible studies for the children and for the moms.
Congregation – Our People
The church demographics are healthy. We have a fairly even distribution in age from babies to those in their 90’s. As of January 31, 2026 we had 66 active members and 5 inactive. There are about 170 that would consider GBC their church home with attendance on a normal Sunday averaging between 110-140 as it has for years. The Lord has always brought enough new families to replace those that move away.
The church is ethnically diverse though we have never had any strategy to do so other than treat all believers without partiality. The congregation traces ancestry to every continent except Antarctica and Australia with quite a few being first generation immigrants. Even among our church leaders ancestry traces to the British Isles, western & southern Europe, Greece, Syria, Africa, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. We have great fellowship meals! The love of the congregation for one another has become a hallmark of GBC with those who move away telling us it is very difficult to find a church that is as loving.
The fellowship among the congregation is close and caring of one another giving it a strong sense of being family. We purposely provide many opportunities for fellowship and encourage it among the congregation. The congregation naturally meets the needs of one another and responds well to special needs when asked.
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