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Who We Are/ Why We Are
Welcome.
We are the Grace
Communion
Church
of the Inland Empire, a local congregation of Grace Communion International
(GCI), formerly known as the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
We have been meeting
in the Inland Empire
since March, 2004. This fairly new church plant began
when a small group of GCI members from the parent church
in Glendora
felt the Inland Empire
offered fertile ground for church expansion. "There
were vast numbers of uprooted people pouring into the Inland Empire
in the middle of the decade, some of them looking for a
new church home," said Senior Pastor Neil Earle, "we
hoped we could fill that need."
Grace Communion's
church experience has been anything but dull, meeting in
four locations in five years. Attendance quickly soared
to a high of 32 people and then down to a reliable five
or ten meeting in a house church format as people
continued to move around the region. The Lion's Center
East in
Rancho Cucamonga
was the first home for two years. Along the way, while
attendance oscillated, the small church trained worship
leaders and even a co-pastoral team for the CGI group
now meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mike Paiges family look back on their experience
worship-leading and learning the ropes of Discipleship
Training in the Lion's Center as vital to their
pastoral role in Phoenix. As people moved out to other areas, the small flock
moved into a Christian Coffee Shop owned by a friend they had met at the
Grape Harvest Festival in Rancho in October, 2006.
The coffee shop was
tight but cozy and training in worship leading and
preaching continued. For example, the Grundy family from
here now helps bring worship to a senior's church in San Dimas. This is the "small church advantage" where almost
everyone gets to share in ministry. The Holy Spirit has
definitely used this plant as a trainer of people for
various ministries. That emphasis continues in its
present goal to work through Lessons 1-12 of
Discipleship Training in partnership with the Center for
Church-Based Training in Richardson, Texas. Even with all this some teens have been offered the
chance to attend a Christian summer camp in Big Bear.
When new owners took
over the coffee shop on Milliken, the Dan Rogers family
kindly offered to host the church in their spacious
house in Fontana. That was in November, 2007. As Dan is the
Superintendent for CGI Ministers in the United States
this was a most logical move. A regular visitor was CGI
President Joseph Tkach of Fontana, author of Transformed
by Truth, a 1997 Multnomah publication detailing the
story of the WCG/CGI? transformation from the fringes
of Christianity to a more orthodox, mainstream position. This
radical shift from most of the doctrinal positions held
by once famed media evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong
was described by the late James Kennedy as
"more intensive than the Protestant Reformation."
Through it all the
church maintains its multi-racial identity, living up to
its motto as "a house of prayer for all nations." We
have supported teen concerts, the National Day of
Prayer, Cucamonga's Grape Harvest Festival, Kids to
Camp and the Organization for Reconciliation
Ministries' faith-based initiative to being racial
peace and healing to our cities (See http://www.atimetoreconcile.org).
This remains true even in its present temporary
incarnation as a house church in Rialto. Watch this space for further developments. Drop by our
lit table at the October Grape Harvest Festival as we
partner with Cops and Clergy Network to help
resist the growing gang, drugs and gun threat across the
Inland Empire.
WHO:
Grace
Communion
Church, a congregation of Grace Communion International (CGI)
WHAT:
A regular Sunday morning multi-racial gathering in a
house church format.
WHERE:
House church, RIALTO
WHEN:
Sunday, 10:30 AM
CONTACT:
Pastor Neil Earle (626) 256-4919 or Ron and Susan Boyer
(909) 421-2215
WHY:
To offer a church home for people seeking fellowship
with members of the National Association of
Evangelicals, meeting with like-minded folk who heartily
endorse orthodox Christian doctrine as expressed in the great creeds.
MISSION: "My house shall be
called a house of prayer for all people" (Mark 11:17).
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