New GCF CONNECT Outreaches

Connect is the servant-evangelism ministry of Grace Christian Fellowship in which we are striving to connect our local community to Christ and his church through acts of service. God has not called us to just tell the Gospel, he has also called us to show the Gospel. Connect will strive to do both – telling & showing the Gospel of Christ to our community.

For More Info Please See:

Connect Purpose & Vision

Scripture's Call to Love & Serve Others

Serving Food at Pinellas Hope

Our final date for serving food at Pinellas Hope this summer is Thursday, July 30^th (from 6:30pm to 8:30pm). We need help beginning at 2:00pm on Wednesday (the 29^th) and Thursday (the 30^th) with food prep. Please e-mail Pastor Heath if you would like to assist purchasing, preparing, transporting, and/or serving the food.

Pinellas Hope:

5726 126 Avenue North
Pinellas Park, Florida 33760
Driving directions from GCF

Tuesday Night Bible Study at Pinellas Hope

We currently lead a Bible study outreach on Tuesday nights from 8:00pm to 9:00pm at Pinellas Hope (a local homeless shelter). Even if you cannot attend each night, we are still encouraging you to help out when you are available.

Perhaps you would like to assist with this outreach but cannot attend any of the Bible studies? Well, we would love to bring some homemade cookies or brownies each night. We could also use some financial donations to buy Bibles and encouraging books for each of the Bible study participants. Please e-mail Pastor Heath if you would like to help out.

Pregnancy Center

of Pinellas County

And Family Coaching with

Birth of a Family

Family Coaches with Birth of a Family:

Birth of a Family recently contacted us about assisting them with “Family Coaches.” Basically, Birth of a Family works alongside local pregnancy centers to help provide their clients with biblical instruction on marriage and family. “Family Coaches” are trained to accompany clients through the seven part presentation providing role modeling and mentoring. Birth of a Family will meet with us very soon to for a training seminar which should only take a couple hours. This is an incredible ministry opportunity for single and married, young and old…please e-mail Pastor Heath ASAP if you are interested! A 7 week Birth of a Family program will begin at the Largo Pregnancy Center in the beginning of August and “Family Coaches” are needed!

Pregnancy Center Volunteers:

There's a continual opportunity for our church to get involved with Pregnancy Center of Pinellas County. They're need in of counselors, prayer intercessors, and various volunteers. The Center provides, free of charge, all the training necessary to become a Pregnancy Center Counselor. (Both women and men are needed as counselors!) Please prayerfully consider serving with them to make a difference in the lives of young women, men and unborn children within our community.

If you are interested in becoming a counselor (4 hour a week commitment & you receive training from the Pregnancy Center) or if you are interested in a prayer meeting for the ministry of the Pregnancy Center please contact our very own Alison Wilkerson - geoaliwil@gmail.com or 727-474-1096.

Other Odds and Ends with the Pregnancy Center:

There are other ways to serve the Pregnancy Center too:

There's a prayer meeting at the Pregnancy Center every Thursday at 9:30am.

If there is someone who is able to help with the odd “handyman” project, at the Center, or for one of their clients, we’d appreciate knowing who you are so that you can be called on if and when needed!

Any teens out there are welcome to volunteer too! For e.g. there is a young girl who comes to the Center to volunteer and gets some kind of school credits as a result. There is always filing of some sort, data entry and other little projects that are available to the teens.

Feel free to contact Alison for more ideas and ways to serve with this tremendous ministry reaching our community with Christ's love!

Nursing Home Ministry

On Sundays, July 26^th and August 16^th we will be going to Oak Manor at 2pm to sing hymns, have prayer time, and visit with the residents. If you are interested in finding out more and/or have some outreach ideas please e-mail Pastor Heath or Rebecca Brand (581-9016).

Here are a couples pictures from our last Nursing Outreach to Oak Manor:

The Connect Seminar Notes

The purpose of Connect Seminars will be to train up our congregants for evangelism & cultural engagement.

What is Servant Evangelism?

Here are the handout sheets that we went through:
Becoming Worldly & Missional Christians

Who is My Neighbor - The Call to Share & Reflect The Love of God

The Connect Vision

What is Connect?

Connect is the servant-evangelism ministry of GCF in which we are striving to connect our local community to Christ and his church through acts of service. God has not called us to just tell the Gospel, he has also called us to show the Gospel. Connect will strive to do both – telling & showing the Gospel of Christ to our community.

The Three-Fold Vision of Connect

To Connect our Community to Christ & his Church:
We’ve always believed that GCF was put on 901 Ridge Rd. S.W. to be a light house for the Gospel in this community. Our mission field isn’t just abroad, it’s the people across the street, it’s our co-workers, it’s the homeless man @ Largo Park, it’s our classmates and teachers, it’s the children & youth in the church neighborhood, etc…. We thank God for calling us and sending us to other nations for the sake of the Gospel; but we must also be faithful to share the Gospel in our own community. What better way is there to prepare someone to hear the Gospel, which is their spiritual need, but through serving them first by meeting their physical need? And what better way is there to connect a person to the Gospel message of God’s love & forgiveness than by showing them the Gospel through loving & serving them?

To Connect our Congregants to the Call of Servant Evangelism:
Undoubtedly, Christians are called to love & serve others (see below). But why? Do we just serve because is the “nice thing” to do? Absolutely not! Christianity isn’t that sallow or weak. No, we are called to love & serve others because:

1. It resembles the heart of God as revealed in Gospel of Christ; through the Gospel & Great Commission (Matt. 28) we, once again, become image-bearers of God – 1 John 4:10-12; Phil. 2:3-8; John 13:35
2. In a sick, hurting, & twisted world, acts of mercy & love reveal the nature of the Gospel, i.e. overcoming evil (sin) with good (mercy) – Rom. 12:20-21; James 2:12-13

Most Christians know they should be sharing the Gospel with others through word & action but struggle in actually carrying it out. Perhaps they’re insecure, perhaps they’re not sure what to say, perhaps they lack that amount of faith, etc.... For many individuals evangelism & outreach is a very daunting task. But corporate evangelism & outreach is always much easier and perhaps can be used to springboard us to do more individual Gospel-outreach to our family, neighbors, & co-workers.

Also, to better help our congregants get connected to the call of servant evangelism, we plan on having recurrent Connect Seminars which will strive to equip the church for Gospel-outreach.

To Connect our Congregants to the Various Opportunities to Serve:

There are already plenty of people in our church doing servant-evangelism. And there are plenty of people in our church that have outreach ideas. One of the purposes of GCF’s Connect will be to connect those outreach opportunities to our fellow congregants. Basically, GCF’s Connect will be a ministry that will continually make needs and outreach opportunities known to our church congregants.

Want to get involved?

Please print out the Connect Info Sheet & Questionnaire Form. Fill out the Questionnaire Form and turn it in to Pastor Heath. Also, sign up for the Connect e-mail list at the top-right corner of this web page so you can stay connected!

The Connect Call

Scripture's Call to Love & Serve Others

1. Love one another in response to God’s love for us.
1 John 4:9–21.
1 John 4:9–11. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:21. And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

2. Love one another deeply.
1 Peter 1:22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
1 Peter 4:8. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

3. Genuine love is serving others.
1 Peter 4:9–10. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

4. Love is absolutely essential; one is nothing without it.
1 Cor. 13:1–3.

5. Paul describes what love really is.
1 Cor. 13:4–7. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

6. To love is to be devoted to one another.
Rom. 12:9–10. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

7. By washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus modeled for us, showing us how we must love one another.
John 13:2–17.
John 13:14–15. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”

8. Jesus commands us to love others in the manner in which he loved us, to imitate him.
John 13:34. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

9. Don’t be self-centered, but look out for others; in this imitate Jesus.
Phil. 2:3–5. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

10. Jesus gave his all for us.
Phil. 2:6–8.

11. Do not seek honor and prestige but, like Jesus, be ready to serve others.
Matt. 20:20–28.
Matt. 20:26–28. “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

12. Attending to the needs of others is doing it for Christ.
Matt. 25:34–40.
Matt. 25:35–36. ‘For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Matt. 25:40. “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

13. Don’t become weary in doing good.
Gal. 6:9. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

14. Do good to all, especially to members of God’s family.
Gal. 6:10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

15. Follow the golden rule.
Matt. 7:12. “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

16. Don’t be self-centered, but please others.
Rom. 15:1–2. We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.

17. Imitate Jesus.
Rom. 15:3. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

18. Devote yourself to doing good.
Titus 3:14. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.

19. You can find your life by doing good.
Matt. 10:39. “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

20. Love your enemies and those who persecute you.
Matt. 5:43–48. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Rom. 12:20–21. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

21. As members of Christ’s body, we all need one another; each member must use his or her gifts to serve others.
1 Cor. 12:1–31.
1 Cor. 12:4–7. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
1 Peter. 4:10–11. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

22. True freedom is to serve one another in love.
Gal. 5:13–15. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
1 Thess. 4:9–11. But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.