Good Shepherd Church
Cicero, IL

Grace Communion International places great emphasis on the gracious triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Our pastors and the people they serve point others toward the Triune God, helping them participate in the love and life of God, in union with Christ, by the Spirit.

We are inclusive informers, teachers, and pastor-theologians who pursue God’s Word (the Living Word, Jesus, revealed in the written Word, the Bible). It is our quest to follow where Jesus, by his Word and Spirit, leads.

We are passionate about equipping, training and proclaiming the relational nature of the triune God. Our goal is healthy churches who seek to be a part of God’s renewing work in the world.

We are intentional about developing leaders, and new and renewed churches that grow and multiply. In faith, we lead into the liberated love and life of the Father, Son and Spirit. Our consistent effort is high support with high challenge, grace always.

Grace Communion International is a trusted theological voice. We have shown ourselves willing to lose it all so that we may gain Christ. We seek to help those who join with us embrace and share the love of God in genuine ways.

Some people ask, “What are your distinctives—what makes you different, or superior?” The answer is that we aren’t in competition with other churches. We simply strive to be the healthiest expression of Christian church we can be. Through Jesus, by the Spirit, we seek to proclaim the Good News in all of our communication and in all the ways we interact with others. The Gospel about Jesus really is good news for everyone—that’s the message you will hear and experience in Grace Communion International.

We believe that theology should be rooted in the Bible, especially the New Testament. We see a reliable theology articulated by Irenaeus, Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzus, and more recently, Karl Barth, Thomas F. Torrance, and many others. This theology is often referred to as Trinitarian Theology due to its emphasis on the relational nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Our teachings include:

• The Father, Son, and Spirit are one God, united in love for one another.
• Jesus Christ, as the Word made flesh, is fully God and fully human.
• Jesus accurately reveals the goodness and love of God, and reveals humanity as God intended us to be.
• As our Creator, Jesus represented all humanity, and all people benefit from his vicarious humanity: his life, death, resurrection and ascension.Jesus Christ atoned for all sin and suffered its full consequence.
• God has in Christ reconciled all humanity to himself through his son, Jesus (Colossians 1:20). (However, universal atonement should not be equated with universalism.)
• The judgment of God against evil has been executed in Jesus Christ so that all might repent and receive forgiveness and, through the Holy Spirit, share in Christ’s resurrected, eternal life.
• People are exhorted to respond to this reconciliation and participate in the life for which we were all created.
• Jesus, as the nexus of divinity and humanity, has enabled humanity to participate in the life and love of the Trinity, which was God’s intent from before the beginning of time.If you are interested in a comprehensive look at Trinitarian Theology and what Grace Communion International teaches, read: The God Revealed In Jesus Christ and our full Statement of Beliefs.