Our History
Launched at Easter 2018 as part of Wheelock Heath Baptist Church, Winterley with guests including our MP Fiona Bruce, Grace Church Sandbach is a Bible believing church made up of people of all ages and backgrounds. Since then the congregation has increased by 60 % to include many young families. We became an independent church in 2023.
Our aims as a church are to know more about God, to grow in faith and to be more like him and serve him better. We also want to grow in love for each other; serve, support and encourage each other. We want to serve and support our local community and to glorify God and to tell people about him, who he is and what he has done.
What we believe
Christianity is "good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
Mark's Gospel, chapter 1 verse 1
The following is a simple summary of the heart of the Christian faith:
The Bible tells us that Christian faith is "good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark's Gospel, chapter 1 verse 1). So Christianity is not primarily about rules or religious rituals. Rather, it is about a person, Jesus, and our relationship with him.
It is not good advice about what we need to do, but rather an announcement of the good news about what God has already done for us in Jesus.
Who God is and our relationship to him?
The Bible tells us that God is the creator of the whole universe, including us. As such he is our rightful King. However, all of us have turned our backs on God and rebelled against his loving rule - what the Bible calls sin. As a result we fully deserve God's just punishment.
What God has done?
To save us, and in his great love for us, God came into the world as a man, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life and take on himself the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross in our place, so that we can be completely forgiven. God raised Jesus from the dead on the first Easter Sunday, meaning Jesus is alive now, reigning as God's King.
What we have to do?
Every person is faced with two choices - reject Jesus and face his just punishment, or trust in Jesus and receive his free gift of eternal life.
As a church we are affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) and hold to their doctrinal basis, which you can find here. A more detailed summary of our beliefs can be found in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.