Welcome to the blog, especially those “new” readers. My name is Jason Stonehouse and I’m the lead pastor at Grace Church Roseville in Roseville, MN. We are currently really pumped (what an 80’s word!) about the fall season at Grace. We’re starting with the series: Don’t Go to Church which will paint a picture of the kind of church God had in mind when this whole thing began. We’ll disassemble some common misconceptions, and stereotypes like the church is boring, church is full of hypocrites, all they want is your money, christians are judgmental etc. Check out the skinny at extendgrace.org.
We are seeking to become a church that actually lives our faith, doesn’t just talk about it.
We’re also excited because the fall means the beginning of college for many students. Since our church is within 3 miles of like 5 colleges including Bethel University (St Paul, MN); Northwestern College; and Hamline University (the University of Minnesota is not far either!). Although the Twin Cities are full of great churches (like Eagle Brook Community Church and Woodland Hills and pastors like John Piper, Leith Anderson and Greg Boyd to mention a few — we, at Grace Church are seeking to live out our unique thumbprint for glorifying God and reaching people. (By the way it seems to be connecting, we’ve had over 430 people visit Grace in the last 5 months and over 100 stay around to be a regular part – now we’re averaging about a 100 people shy of 1000 – God is good!). The unique “thumbprint” is very much in the developmental stage right now but includes an authenticity, a come-as-you-are, no perfect people allowed type of approach. Each week, developed by a newly formed creative programming team, our gatherings are never the same. We utilize a variety of video/movie clips, musical styles, drama, communion, art, humor, interaction and images to convey the theme. We are a strong bible-teaching, God-focused church that believes that methods and creative elements don’t change anyone – it’s Jesus who changes hearts!
Our music is a blend between traditional, contemporary and beginning to explore modern worship music as well. Some weeks are more traditional, others more on the modern/ contemporary side. The choir, orchestra and band will all be a part of the kick off on Sept 8-9. As mentioned in our preaching, we seek to be honest, real, fun and personal. We are big on application and actually “living out” our faith.
New features this fall include an espresso machine brewing Dunn Brothers coffee and new video enhancements in the worship center. We are currently in a series called Twelve which is already moving tons of people from the sidelines to involvement in what God is doing. There is something in all of us that longs to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and Grace is moving in that direction. Ministries that are hopping are a great kids-friendly children’s ministry, adult classes, divorce recovery, and tons more.
Anyway – lots of exciting things are happening and we can’t wait to see what Grace will become in the days ahead!
