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• ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

  Here's another take on Grace Christian Fellowship.
  
  I'm from a non-Amish, non-Hutterite, non-Mennonite, non-homeschooling, non-headcovering, non-dresswearing background and have gone to Grace for a few years now.
  
  I think regardless of the church we end up attending, we take all of our experiences in the church at large with us. We take our personalities, our sensitivities, and our ways of interpreting how others perceive us. We follow Christ, but we still carry the weight of our flesh and the burden of our imperfections.
  
  This being said, I do understand where the first reviewer is coming from. Grace is, unarguably, a subculture within the 21st century American church. Yes, Grace does [almost] entirely consist of homeschooling, dress-wearing, head-covering, plain-born folk.
  
  BUT...
  
  I think there is more grace at Grace than the first reviewer may know. I did not wear a head covering, nor did I feel pressured to wear one. I was baptized there as a non-conformer, I was welcomed into fellowship during Communion as a non-conformer, I made friends as a non-conformer, and I went---over and over again, more over time and not less--to families' homes to know and be known, to seek Christ, and to joy in good company. All without a head covering. All without conforming.
  
  Have I at times felt like a bit of an odd one out? Yes. Have I noticed at times that I don't fit in entirely? Yes. But of paramount importance is this: I am the one who made myself feel excluded. The "black sheep" syndrome was coming from my OWN sensitivity. My background is different. The nuances of my beliefs are different. No. I was not--and am not--the product of a cookie cutter. But I love my local body--I love these people, for I see Christ in them and they see Him in me, and we seek Him together. I am imperfect. They are imperfect. But Christ binds us together with love. His strength is made perfect in our weakness, in our imperfection.
  
  Despite our differences, I've come to know the people of this church as family. We're all bound up together now. I love them, and I know that they love me, too. Growing up, I grew tired of going to churches where following Christ meant putting on a mask of flawlessness and pretending everything was always okay. Ironically enough, at Grace--the church where there are more external differences than any other church I've been a part of--I've found my mask coming off. Completely. For the first time, I'm in a place where church can mean brokenness. It can mean honesty and searching out. I think this church has changed a bit over the past several years because of all of the sorrows God has allowed it to pass through in such a short time. A 15-year old adrift in the Susquehanna. A nearly 20-year old gone to her Lord after months in the shadowland between life and death following a car accident. A 10-year old dying of malaria in Benin. These three were each children of families in church. A church cannot bear up under these sorts of griefs without changing. It can only break open, naked before its God. And this is when His real work begins. I walked in right in the midst of the breaking, and I've seen a people groaning for God, crying out to Jesus for rest. My heart's cry joined theirs, and we became family.
  
  There is more to this church than its dresses, its head coverings, and its homeschooling.
  
  This church is part of Christ's body.
  
  I long for the day when all the parts of His body cast across the globe are united in Him, made one just as Christ and the Father are one. No more divisions, no more bitterness, no more casting blame. Simply one, made so by Christ's death, Christ's resurrection, Christ's overwhelming love.
  
  With love,
  
  D.

  Added January 22, 2017 by D. Anothertake
• ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

  This is a WARNING: If you want to attend this church, please, please think twice, pray, and ask lots of questions before committing yourselves to this church. I know of a person who feels their lives have been "destroyed" by this church. The reason is that if you are different, hold different beliefs, dress differently, you probably eventually will be ostracized. For example, this church holds very strong beliefs about divorce and remarriage, head coverings, manner of dress and other doctrines (some of which should be considered non-essential). If you don't agree with these beliefs you can't be a member, and at least concerned with people I know, you won't be invited (at first yes, but if you don't conform, they'll stop inviting you to their homes, perhaps because you will be a bad example to their children). They might even stop talking to you or to relatives you bring to the church. This has happened. If you try to get anyone to work at your home (there are lots of construction people there) they might make excuses not to show up. Many people are former Amish people who practiced shunning and from what I know, it seems like it's still being practiced there although not in the form found in the traditional Amish. At first they are nice, but after a while if you don't conform, little by little they will stop talking to you and your family. Again, I know of people who feel they have experienced such things. If you are former Amish or former Huderite or if you already come from a head covering very conservative church, it would be OK as they will probably find room for you there, but if you come from a contemporary Christian background and you do not head cover, you might be welcome at first, they'll invite you to their homes, but after a while (again, this is from real-life experiences of people) they will slowly begin to shun you. So, again, this is a plea to all those who are thinking of moving there from a contemporary Christian background, to ask lots of questions first before you commit to being part of this church. I can write many more things about experiences that would fill many pages, and I could name individuals there and tell many a stories about what people there said, but it would be best not to do so in a review like this as the purpose is not to name people. I am only writing this review to warn people who are thinking of moving to the Bainbridge area to attend this church to please pray, ask questions, and to NOT be overly impressed by their apparent "holiness" because the women wear dresses, head cover and the children are basically all home schooled and sit in the 3 hour long service.

  Added August 03, 2016 by Evelyn Bonilla