At Grace Baptist, we see our purpose as a church to help fulfill the Great Commission.  We believe God uses us to do this as we seek to Transform, Equip and Send those to who we minister and serve.  Because our church has many m ilitary and government families who are transferred to our area for only a few years, we want to celebrate sending them out to their new assignments and other who leave to new locations.  Once way we do this is with a "Commissioning" to send them out for ministry and service.  At the Commissioning Cerenomy, we present coins like these:

 

 

 

 

and we use these words to recognize and commission our departing families:

 

From earliest church history, servants have been “commissioned” for ministry. This charge gave them authority to act for another.  Jesus commissioned His disciples with these words:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

In the United States Military, “commissioning” is the act of placing an officer or a warship into active duty.  We use this commissioning ceremony to mark the charge of a servant of Christ with the mission of sharing God’s grace apart from Grace Baptist Church and continuing in service to Christ elsewhere.

 

Please accept these coins as tokens of our appreciation for your service here at Grace and our charge for you to step out in faith all the days of your life wherever God takes you, always remembering 2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ”.