Grace Church exists to glorify God by making disciples, equipping them for a life of service, & shepherding them as they are sent out to proclaim Jesus Christ.

OUR HISTORY

Grace Church of Simi Valley finds its roots all the way back to December 1960, with a Bible study of nineteen people. This group met in the home of Ed and Eileen Shimmel on First Street, and felt called to establish a church. The Shimmel, Osborne, and Weimer families chose Elmer Fricke, a retired missionary, as their first pastor, sowing the seeds for this church. A year later, the young church had nineteen members and was renting a building on Church Street. Pastor Fricke’s wife, Gloria, taught Sunday School to the kids in the garage.

On July 5, 1963, the church was officially established by the state. We bought property off of Sycamore Drive and began to build. In 1965, John Gillis was called to replace Elmer Fricke, who was retiring. Gillis pastored for seventeen years, and under his leadership, the church (eighty-six members in 1970) quickly outgrew the new building. Plans for another sanctuary were drawn up, and the chapel was added in 1974.

By 1983, nearly five hundred were regularly attending Grace, and John McIntosh was called to pastor our church. The Lord continued to provide, and in 1999 the Sycamore Center was completed. In 2003, Jordan Bakker was hired to oversee college ministry, and in 2012 he took on the mantle of Lead Pastor. Under his leadership, Grace commissioned Eric Durso to revitalize Grace Rancho (CA) in 2019, and commissioned Peter LeDuc to plant Grace Dover (NH) in 2022.

What was established in 1963 as a small group of families has steadily grown over the years to include a thriving church and school here in Simi Valley, CA. We share the same foundational philosophy as we did back then — faithfully preaching the Bible and teaching people how to love God and others.

OUR VALUES & BELIEFS

 

The Gospel

We focus on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ who brought dead people destined for hell and God's wrath into a reconciled, loving, worshipful relationship with God through His death on the cross as a perfect, atoning substitute for us (John 1:29; Ephesians 2:1–3; Romans 3:23–26; 5:8–10; 2 Corinthians 5:16–21). God calls us by His grace to believe in Christ by faith (Ephesians 2:8–9), to turn from our sin by repentance (2 Timothy 2:25; Luke 24:46–47), to be forgiven of all of our sin (Acts 10:43; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13–14; Hebrews 10:11–18) and follow Him with our whole life (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10; Luke 9:23; Matthew 10:37–39). Our lives are no longer our own, but we live now for His glory, according to the grace that He continues to give us, through the leading of His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:9–10; Galatians 2:20, 5:16–18; Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:1–4; 1 Corinthians 15:10–11).

God's Absolute Sovereignty

We focus on the fact that God does everything in this world for His glory. He is absolutely sovereign over our salvation (Ephesians 1:3–12), our suffering (1 Peter 3:17) and our lives (James 3:13–17). God was sovereign over Jesus' death on the cross (Acts 2:23) and over His resurrection (Acts 2:24). It is because God is sovereign that we have hope of the future (1 Peter 1:3–5), confidence in our mission (Matthew 28:18), and live without fear toward the Satanic forces against us (Ephesians 1:19–23). We strive to rest in the fact that God does all things in this world for His glory, and in turn, everything is for our good.

The Sufficiency of Scripture

We teach, preach and counsel from God's Word alone, since it is God's Word that is sufficient for every true need, in order to display the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the means that God uses to bring salvation (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18) and growth for every believer (2 Timothy 3:15–16; 1 Peter 2:1–3). We are dependent on the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and enlightens our eyes to the knowledge of God (John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:10–13). We strive to teach what God has declared, not our own thoughts and opinions.

Leadership by Shepherding Leaders

We believe God gives every church all the resources it needs to accomplish its goal of glorifying God (1 Corinthians 1:7-9), including qualified leaders. God has given men of character to lead, know, teach and protect the people of the church (1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9; 1 Peter 5:1–4). This is done by loving example and gentle instruction. The goal of the congregation is to submit to their leadership (Hebrews 13:17), support them (1 Timothy 5:17–19) and respect them (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13).

Purity of the Body

Though salvation by Jesus Christ means we are dead to sin (Romans 6:7) and are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:20), we still live in this fleshly body, which means we still struggle with sin every day (Galatians 5:17). This means we need each other in our battle to believe the gospel in every aspect of life in order to please God in trusting Him in obedience (Hebrews 3:12–13; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 1 John 2:3). This means that there are times we must confront each other on clear sin (2 Timothy 2:24–26; Galatians 6:1–3; Matthew 18:15–20) with the goal that each of us would be restored to a proper relationship with each other and God, through the confession of our sin (1 John 1:9). We strive for holiness by grace so that God would be glorified and be useful instruments in His hand (2 Timothy 2:20–21).

Common Mission of Every Believer

We have been given a charge by Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations, teaching and baptizing them (Matthew 28:18–20), calling people to repentance and forgiveness (Luke 24:46–48), proclaiming the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 3:16). This takes place not only locally, but we understand that God has a passion for all the nations, which include people groups all over the world (Revelation 15:4, 21:24). We believe that each person who is part of this church has been given the right and responsibility to intentionally make disciples, and we are committed to sending people out to unreached people groups throughout the world.

STATEMENT OF FAITH