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Welcome to Grace Covenant Church! We are an intergenerational worshipping community committed to working together to share the gospel's message of new life in Christ. Through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we follow the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul strength and mind in serving God, neighbors and one another. We invite you to come and get a glimpse of what life was really meant to be about.

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S.H.A.P.E.d by God

We are unique creations of God…and yet we often live life comparing ourselves with others, or unaware of how God has wired us.  Join us for our current sermon series on finding and fulfilling your unique S.H.A.P.E., or unique blend of Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences.  This series is based on a resource developed by Rick Warren and Saddleback Community Church and discussed in Erik Rees' book.
  • Introduction                           April 29, 2012
  • Spiritual Gifts                        May 6, 2012
  • Heart                                      May 13, 2012
  • Abilities                                  May 20, 2012
  • Personality                            May 27, 2012
  • Experiences                          June 3, 2012
  • Wrap-Up                                June 10, 2012


Mission Statement
Reflecting God’s love in our community through praying, caring and sharing

Vision Statement
Changing Lives from the Inside Out!

First Hour:
Adult Sunday School
9:00am
Second Hour:
Worship
10:00am
 
Children’s Ministry
children stay with adults for opening worship
10:30am
Third Hour:
Fellowship*
11:30am

*each week after service, we have something in our fellowship hall, such as a "coffee hour", monthly birthdays, or regular potluck luncheons.

Our 10:00am Sunday morning worship service is casual and family-friendly with a blended worship style, embracing both traditional hymns as well as contemporary songs of praise. The preaching style is biblical with Scripture readings and sermon texts often coming from the Revised Common Lectionary. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper by serving Holy Communion every first Sunday of the month. Grace Covenant aspires to serve the local community by "being a neighbor" through our monthly "Abundant Harvest" food pantry ministry, family programs and summer Kids Camp, involvement with our neighborhood school Buri Buri Elementary, partnerships with other churches...ultimately desiring to be a positive presence in our neighborhood. We invite you to experience what God's going at Grace Covenant and be part of a community that's "changing lives from the inside out!"

Navigate together in 2012!. Grace Covenant has become a "Navigate" church, which means we will be engaging in a journey towards "church vitality" in striving to become a healthy and missional church body. We invite you to explore 2012 with us in this new season of ministry at Grace. We will engage in a shift in culture in how we operate internally...and how we see the community around us externally. This will bring about change that may feel both adventuous and treacherous, but consider joining us in this journey of vitality and see what God is doing at Grace...and what He wants to do with your life!

 

Grace Covenant Church
Grace Covenant was founded in 1954 as “Winston Manor Covenant Church” in Colma and moved in 1959 to its current location at 740 Del Monte Avenue which it remains an active part of the life of South San Francisco. We celebrated our 50th Anniversary in November 2009 to commemorate the beginning of our missional work in South City. We continue to hold various outreach events organized throughout the year as well as making its facilities available for community functions. We enjoy partnering with both local South City churches as well as our broader denomination to further the Kingdom-building work to see more people engage in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, across more populations, in a more caring and just world.

 

 

 

 

 

Evangelical Covenant Church Grace is a member church of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) denomination, a growing multiethnic denomination in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents of the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the word of God, the gift of God's grace and ever-deepening spiritual life that comes through a faith with Jesus Christ, the importance of extending God's love and compassion to a hurting world, and the strength the comes from unity within diversity.

As a denomination, we are:

  • Evangelical, but not exclusive
  • Biblical, but not doctrinaire
  • Traditional, but not rigid
  • Congregational, but not independent
For more information on the ECC, click: HERE

 

 

Pacific Southwest Conference
Grace is regionally connected to our local conference, the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC) a mission region of the Evangelical Covenant Church encompassing Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. The PSWC supports ministries to and with all ages reflecting the diversity of race, culture, and class within our region and affirms the Covenant's identity, biblical mission, enduring commitments, and core beliefs. The PSWC’s vision for mission is to be a mosaic of churches working interdependently to reach the unchurched and equip believers to transform lives and communities. For more information about the PSWC, click: HERE

 

 

 

 

 

City of South San Francisco
Grace is situated on the slopes west of El Camino near the 280 freeway on the northwest side of South San Francisco, a working class community with over sixty-two thousand residents. Grace embraces being part of a small city that offers its citizens a place in which to live comfortably in fine residential areas; a place of recreation in parks, swimming pools, and marina; a place to work in more than 2,800 firms and businesses including many biotech companies which give the city the title of “Birthplace of Biotechnology.” Nestled along the sides of a broad valley formed by the San Bruno Mountains on the north and the Coast Range on the west, much of the valley Grace Covenant is located faces the adjacent San Francisco Bay, affording sweeping vistas, from higher levels and a definite sense of identification with the Bay. SSF has mild winters and dry cool summers and the hills to the west shield the city from much of the fog that prevails in neighboring areas. For more information about the City of South San Francisco, click: HERE

Spiritual Formation
How do we grow in our relationship with Christ? As we learn to follow the Great Commandment to "love God and love others," change begins to take place from the inside out.  We encourage the study of Scripture and the practice of prayer, among other ways to nurture our relationship with Christ.  Some small group options for personal formation include our Sunday morning "first hour" adult Sunday School (9:00am); Wednesday morning study (10:00am); Tuesday Intercessory Prayer (7:00pm); Thursday Vitality Prayer (7:00pm), plus various men's and women's activities throughout the year.  Most activities and events take place at Grace Covenant.

Life Skills
Grace offers a unique 26-week course called "Life Skills" which encourages us to take a look at the "under-the-surface" issues that reveal emotionally unhealthy spirituality many of us have.  Life Skills helps us overcome the things that prevent us from experiencing the freedom in Christ that God SO desires for us. Life Skills is offered for men and women throughout the year.  A new men's class will begin on Monday evenings from 6:30-9:00p, starting June 4, 2012. Click here for details or contact Linda Stainthorp (lindastainthorp@yahoo.com).

"Contemplatives in Action"
Our spiritual formation also includes exploring contemplative spiritual practices. One example of this is our annual "Stations of the Cross" that connects us with Christ's journey to the Cross, following the ancient Christian tradition been passed along for centuries (click on this link for more background).  Good Friday is the date we reflect on this.  But as believers, we are invited to remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross year 'round.  Photographs of previous "Stations" are found in the church sanctuary, capturing this step-by-step journey with Jesus to the Cross. Click here for VISUAL of The Stations of The Cross.

Children’s Ministry
A children’s ministry is offered on Sunday morning at 10:30am. After some intergenerational worship and a story, the children have a time of singing, games, arts and crafts, and Bible lessons and divided into elementary-aged and middle school classes. The children often share special music or poetry they have prepared with the rest of the church for special occasions. A sound-proof nursery connected to the rear of the sanctuary is also available to families with very young children.

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The Salvation Army We have on-site a drop-box to receive small donations, which in turn, support the Salvation Army’s “Adult Rehabilitation Center” (ARC), providing assistance to people with a variety of social and spiritual afflictions.  We’re pleased to partner with a reputable organization that addresses the holistic ministry needs of those it serves, such as substance misuse, legal problems, relational conflicts, homelessness, unemployment, and most importantly, a need for spiritual awakening and restoration.

Jehova Es Mi Pastor, Covenant Church On Sunday afternoons at 3:00 pm, lively and prayer-filled worship can be heard in Grace’s sanctuary as Jehova Es Mi Pastor holds its Spanish-speaking service. Contact Pastor Humberto Reyes for more information about their services and other meeting times: (650) 742-0280 (office); (415) 648-0368 (cell).

Rebuilding Together Peninsula Grace Covenant was pleased to be selected as one of the 2012 project sites. Special thanks to the many Genentech volunteers who donated their time and skills on "National Rebuilding Day" to make improvements to our facilities thus enabling us to serve our community better!

Little Hugs Preschool Little Hugs Preschool is an independent preschool that meets in the downstairs classrooms of Grace Covenant. LHP that has been serving families at this location since 1993 providing quality childcare that meets the highest standards possible while encouraging the personal involvement of parents. LHP is licensed to serve thirty-six children from ages two to six. Contact Marilyn Basques (650-869-HUGS).

My Parking Sign Special thanks to MyParkingSign.com for their partnership with Grace Covenant in providing the church with donated signage. They give back to the community and to non-profits like ours in product donations and sponsorships. MyParkingSign.com is an online retailer that has been supplying signs to their customers since 2007.


Currently, we support the following missionaries:

1. Students International (Nic & Maurine Bekaert in Guatemala): Students International does long-term, on-going community development in the developing world, including Guatemala where the Bekaerts have been since 2008. Staff, outreach participants and the poor come together cross-culturally to encounter God, share the Good News, disciple and serve others in a specific area of occupation that correlates with their career or academic interests in occupational settings called ministry sites. For more info specific to the Bekaerts’ ministry in Guatemala, go to their website: bekaerts.in.guate.googlepages.com

2. Christian Veterinary Mission (Trent & Tabby Cox in Ethiopia): Christian Veterinary Mission seeks to help veterinarians serve others and live out their Christian faith through their profession. We seek to change lives and communities by improving the care of livestock and other animals.

3. Mission to Unreached People (John & Etsuko Martin in Japan): The Martins serve in Japan where they want to help people know the love of God, to grow as disciples of Jesus, and to discover and use the spiritual gifts God's given each of His children to minister to each other and the world. They encourage the growth of communities of disciples where people can simply live loved by the Father believing THIS is what will truly make the most impact in Japan and, in fact, the whole world. Their agency, Mission to Unreached Peoples is a broadly interdenominational agency that focuses on unreached people groups by investing in the lives, gifts, resources, and vocational skills in God's work throughout Asia and Europe.

4. InterVarsity (Yu-Shuan & Javier Tarango-Sho): InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA® is an evangelical campus mission serving more than 32,000 students and faculty on more than 550 college and university campuses nationwide. Incorporated in 1941, InterVarsity has a rich tradition of campus witness, thoughtful discipleship, and a concern for world missions.


Cameron Wu Cardona

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor Cameron has been pastoring at Grace since 2007. He and his wife Alice have three energetic daughters all attending neighborhood schools. Cameron loves pretty much all sports, enjoys biking the peninsula hills (or wherever a riding partner is willing to go!), cooking and BBQing and spending time with the family and rooting for the Cal Bears. Cameron has a passion to “be a neighbor” by serving the local community as salt and light and “being church” together with folks committed to being disciples of Jesus and enjoys talking about these things over coffee or lunch.


Cameron can be reached at (650) 589-6797 or cwucardona@gmail.com
Regular Church Activities

Sunday

First Hour:
Adult Sunday School
9:00am
Second Hour:
Worship
10:00am
 
Children’s Ministry
children stay with adults for opening worship
10:30am
Third Hour:
Fellowship*
11:30am

Monday-Friday

  • Tuesday: Intercessory Prayer 7:00 pm
  • Thursday: Vitality Prayer 7:00 pm

Abundant Harvest Food Pantry: on the 1st Saturday from 8:00-09:30 am (delivery and set-up takes place the Friday before from 9:00-11:00 am)

Other lunches, small groups and outreach events take place throughout the month. Call the church for more information at 650-589-6797.

2012 Leadership Team

Percy Mueda
Co-Chair
Vernon Capps
Co-Chair
Linda Stainthorp
Vice-Chair
Alice Wu-Cardona
Secretary
Donna Anderson
Cameron Wu Cardona
Pastor (ex-officio)