FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where is Grace Fellowship located?
Our beautiful 100 year old sanctuary is located at the corner of Highway 22 and 13th Street in Clanton. Sunday School classes and nursery can be found in our education building behind the Sanctuary. Our church offices are located in Salter Hall – the white house next door to the Sanctuary on Highway 22.
How should I dress?
According to the Bible, God does not look at the outward appearance but He looks at the heart. Most people in our congregation dress casually. Different people dress in different ways that are based on their tastes, styles, or because that is all they had to wear that day. When you visit us, you’ll find that we’re more interested in you than in what you’re wearing, so don’t let a concern over attire keep you from joining us.
Does Grace Fellowship belong to a denomination?
We are a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which has been in existence for over 40 years and has over 1,800 churches throughout North America. You can learn more about the PCA here.
What is “presbyterian?”
Being presbyterian is simply a way of ordering and leading a church. Presbyterian comes from the biblical word for elder. Therefore, being presbyterian means that local churches are led by elders, who are elected by the local congregation. We have two kinds of elders: “teaching elders” (or pastors), and “ruling elders” or ordained laymen. Together, the elders make up the “Session”. The Session oversees the faith and life of the local church. Simply put, we are an elder-led church, connected to and supported by other elder-led churches.
What about my children?
We have a safe and clean nursery for your youngest children, infants through age 4. Our nursery workers are friendly, trained and have undergone background checks. Your older children may sit with you during the service. We think it’s important that kids learn to worship alongside their parents. (And we don’t mind the extra noise – we promise!) We also have Sunday School classes and Nursery available for all ages before worship.
What is the preaching like?
At Grace Fellowship you’ll hear what is called Expository Preaching. This means we typically preach through whole books of the Bible, all the while focusing on the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We do this because we believer that the spiritual authority of any church or any pastor is God’s Word. This allows preaching in context of the original meaning of Scripture and it also protects us from making the Bible say something that it was never meant to say. Ultimately, it is a way to rely on God to speak powerfully to us through His Spirit and by His Word.
What is the music like?
At Grace Fellowship, we want to take the opportunities and innovations of the present and connect them with the beauty and insight of the past. Older hymn writers had a way of writing music that moved beyond the mere emotions of people by giving us doctrinally rich lyrics that teach and edify the soul. When united with contemporary tunes and instruments, a uniquely worshipful style is presented. We can expect to be comforted and convicted, broken and lifted up, emptied and filled. We want everything we do to glorify God as the rescuer of lost sinners, and so our entire worship service is built to do just that.
Give a listen to our album, “All Must Be Well" for a preview of our worship music style here.