All-Family Sunday, August 31, 2025
Welcome to our Order of Service page! Each week, a team of pastors and staff get together to collaborate on the liturgy, or order of service, for Sunday. Every element is prayerfully and carefully crafted so that the Gospel, God’s redemptive story to save a people for Himself in and through His Son Jesus Christ, would be clear and compelling. We hope you’ll enjoy following along with us as we present and rehearse the Gospel again this morning.
Order of Service
CALL TO CORPORATE WORSHIP & RESPONSIVE READING
Pastor of Corporate Worship: Ryan Foglesong
Psalm 100; 115:1
ADORATION
As For Me and My House
WELCOME & PASTORAL PRAYER
Executive Pastor: Joe Keller
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Lamb of God
THANKSGIVING & RELIANCE
Abide
PETITION: PRAYER FOR THE OFFERING
Pastor of Congregational Care: Alan Berthiaume
TESTIMONY
Megan Latela
CORPORATE PRAYER
Pastor of Family Ministries: Christian Delgado
SCRIPTURE READING
Dago Hernandez
Matthew 5:14–16
PROCLAMATION: INSTRUCTION FROM GOD’S WORD
The Stewardship of Salt & Light
Matt. 5:14–16
Pastor of Equipping: Aaron Miller
SONG OF COMMISSION
O Church, Arise (Arise, Shine)
ANNOUNCEMENTS & BENEDICTION
Pastor of Outreach & Connections: Jared Burkholder
“The life of Christ has an impact on the individual disciple that extends to the local and global cultures of earth.”
Why Church Membership Matters
Church membership is not a man-made formality; it’s a biblical expression of commitment to Christ and his people. In the New Testament, we see clear indications that the early church kept a recognizable list of believers (Acts 2:41, 47), had a defined number of members (Acts 4:4), and knew who was in or out (1 Cor. 5:12-13). Membership helps a church know who it is responsible to shepherd (Heb. 13:17) and helps believers know which shepherds they are called to submit to and follow (1 Thess. 5:12-13).
Joining a local church is a covenant to live out the “one another” commands of Scripture: love one another (John 13:34), bear with one another (Col. 3:13), and stir one another up to love and good works (Heb. 10:24-25). This kind of mutual accountability doesn’t happen in the abstract or in loose association; it happens in the context of committed, identifiable relationships.
Membership also guards the purity and witness of the church. Jesus gave the church authority to bind and loose (Matt. 18:17-18), and Paul instructed churches to remove from fellowship those who persist in unrepentant sin (1 Cor. 5). Without membership, that authority becomes vague and ineffective. With it, discipline is not harsh; it’s loving, restorative, and biblical.
In short, church membership at Grace Baptist Church is how we make visible our commitment to Christ by committing to his body. It’s not about control; it’s about care, discipleship, and displaying the gospel together as a family set apart by grace.