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For our Articles of Biblical Faith, please go here.
A Short History
Begun in 1930, Grace Baptist Church has been a presence in the Harbor Area for more than 90 years! Having highs and lows, Grace has stood as a place where Christ is glorified and His people are edified.
After some years of decline, Grace Baptist became a church plant of First Fundamental Bible Church in the late 1990’s. Pastor Daniel Osuna became the transitional pastor serving faithfully and working with the remaining members to build church structure and introduce expository teaching. Dr. Richard Bargas, pastored Grace Baptist from 2001 to 2018. During these years the church grew in number and doctrine! With an emphasis on "theology and passion, light and heat, spirit and truth", Grace Baptist experienced a revival in expositional teaching and reformed theology with a church desiring to be devoted to the scriptures and committed to living for the glory of God. After 17 years of faithfully pastoring GBC, in God's providence Pastor Richard accepted a position as the Executive Director of IFCA International.
In 2020, during the Covid pandemic that affected many churches around the world, the Lord sustained GBC and brought us our new Pastor, George Bonsangue Jr. We are excited for what the Lord is doing through His church. By God's grace we continue to be a body of believers devoted to the scriptures, committed to living for the glory of God and striving for the advancement of the gospel in the Harbor Area and beyond! Grace Baptist continues its journey of faithfulness into the 21st Century.
Our Affiliations
Grace Baptist has affiliations with IFCA International, Nine Marks, and The Master’s College and Seminary.
Our Purpose
Emphasizing theology and passion, light and heat, Spirit and truth, we desire to be a people devoted to the Scriptures, and committed to live for the glory of God.
Our Distinctives
Theological labels carry huge amounts of luggage that need to be unpacked, so we tend to shun them if we don’t have a chance to explain them. But briefly, we are:
- A non-charismatic church, although we are not afraid of the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches that the Spirit is vital to our walk with Christ, and that the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) is to be engaged by the power of the Spirit’s illumination, and then to be obeyed in that same power. However, the Spirit does not draw attention to Himself, but rather directs all men to Christ.
- A truly protestant church, meaning that our doctrine of salvation is God-centered, not man-centered; monergistic and not synergistic. We affirm and teach the five “solas” of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone).
- An Elder-ruled church, which means that we believe that the primary shepherding of the Church is to come through men who are adequately trained and approved by the local church to lead, feed, protect and care for God’s sheep. Deacons, the ministers of the needs of the church, are important, but do not function in the New Testament church in the same way as elders. Although the Pastor is the lead elder of the church, he is not the sole elder. The local church should be led by a plurality of elders in a loving and caring way.
- A baptist church, meaning we hold to credo or believers baptism and reject infant baptism as unbiblical.
- A dispensational church, meaning that we understand that there is a clear distinction between God’s people Israel, and the Bride of Christ, the Church. We hold to a literal, historical, and grammatical hermeneutic (rules of interpreting the Bible)--and because of this (among other things) we understand the Scriptures to teach that Christ will return in the clouds to rapture His Church (pretribulational rapture), a seven-year tribulation after which Christ will physically return, and a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth.
- A family church, meaning that we firmly believe that although the local church is to assist in the equipping of young people in the faith, this responsibility is primarily given by God to parents. Because of this, we encourage parents to bring there children with them to worship and to teach them to serve alongside of them in their ministries.
If you have any questions about what we mean by these disintinctives, please don't hesitate to email us your questions.
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