Ministries at Grace
Jesus told us, his disciples, to make disciples of all nations (Acts 1:8). One of the most important values of this church is our vision of seeing more people become more like Jesus.
It begins in our own community, and spreads overseas through our missions support initiatives. Church members are involved in a variety of ministries from things as simple as beautifying the church grounds, to preparing the church bulletins, preparing the Communion elements, providing beautiful worship music, to making people feel welcomed when they arrive and through helping children come to know and grow in the life walked with Jesus. As we meet together in any of our missions we disciple each other through fellowship, prayer and supporting each other in love as we become more like Jesus ourselves.
Children’s Ministry
AWANA
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure….” Hebrews 6:19”
Our Children’s Ministry Team is excited for our Fall AWANA! We run our Wednesday evening AWANA program with
the Decatur Public school calendar. It starts in September and ends in May. It is our goal to anchor our children to God’s Word,
to not think of God’s Word simply as stories in a fairytale, but God’s Word is active and living for today and is true. God’s children can have an active relationship with Jesus our Lord and Savior right now.
Our goal is to plant seeds of Scripture that will help them not only to bring them to salvation, but to also see
them be born again and to attain a life living out those seeds of Scripture in their hearts.
We welcome all kids ages kindergarten to fifth grade in our AWANA program. We are also very blessed to have our
very own Children’s Worship leader that invests in the kids learning songs that will grow them in their walk with
Christ Jesus.
Sunday School 
Nursery is available every Sunday from 9:00 -10:45 a.m.
Currently we have activity bags available in the back of the sanctuary for kiddos that are visiting with us. Any ushers
will be happy to give them for you.
Hope Academy:
Decatur Grace Children’s Education team and church members partner with Hope Academy throughout the year.
We pray for them weekly in front of the school building, while also helping to encourage the staff with Scripture cards. We bring goodies for their staff meeting and provide them with a luncheon during Teacher’s Appreciation Week.
If you would like to join in any of these efforts in loving this school, please contact Valerie Pries at 217-429-5374.
Church Council
The Church Council’s unofficial role is to create an environment in which Christian Life can flourish. Its official responsibilities are to oversee the ministerial and administrative activities of the entire church, including approving the annual budget, filling officer vacancies between Annual Conferences, reviewing active and non-active membership lists, reviewing Staff Parish Relations Committee staff salary and benefits recommendations, recommending staff salaries to Charge Conference and assisting all ministries of the church succeed with their activities and goals. The Church Council meets every other month on the 4th Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. as needed.
Congregational Care
Congregational Care works to provide for the nurture of members who are in need or disconnected from the community of faith with the purpose of helping them grow as disciples, meeting basic needs, providing encouragement and support, connecting with needed services when possible.
WHAT WE DO?
We collect and distribute frozen meals for those in need of temporary assistance.
We visit members and regular attenders who are in the hospital.
We write notes of encouragement and visit those who are suffering with grief, a loss, illness, or are hospitalized.
We make phone calls and visits to members and regular attenders of our congregation who are absent from worship for an extended period of time due to health or disability issues.
Economy Shop
The Economy Shop which is located at 155 West King Street (just south of the church) is an outreach mission of the church. We provide an opportunity for the congregation to extend a helping hand to our community by making available to them at low cost those items we no longer need. The workers are all volunteers (women and men) of the church. The shop is open Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We accept and resale clean, used clothing and household items. The profits are put back into our community. Each month we
give monetary donations to the Grace television ministry, Good Samaritan Inn, Oasis, Dove Financial Assistance, and the Northeast Community Fund. We also support different programs within Grace Church.
give monetary donations to the Grace television ministry, Good Samaritan Inn, Oasis, Dove Financial Assistance, and the Northeast Community Fund. We also support different programs within Grace Church.
Fellowship Ministry
The Fellowship Ministry encourages our congregation to purposefully share, care and connect with one another while becoming more like Jesus. We currently have two main ministries. The first is the coffee fellowship available every Sunday morning in the Fireside Room. The second way to serve in this ministry is Movie Night at Grace, when we show free high quality Christian themed movies on occasional Friday nights. Free popcorn and soft drinks are provided.
Missions
Our Missions Team coordinates financial support and hand-on mission efforts in our local area as well as nationally and internationally. Our purpose is to “help our congregation and those we support to express the love of Christ in word and deed to everyone”.
Music Ministry
Our music ministry consists of members from the congregation who have a passion to praise the Lord with either their voices or their talents to play hand bells. The music is a mix of traditional hymns and contemporary songs. Click here to find out how you can become a part of the music ministry at Grace. Just scroll down to the music ministry section.
Operation Enduring Support Operation Enduring Support was founded in February 2003 by members of Grace Methodist Church of Decatur. The volunteers are from Grace, Decatur, and surrounding communities. OES sends care packages to our deployed military for Easter and Christmas.
We meet every Monday evening at 6:00 pm until packing day which is usually 3 weeks prior to the holiday. Volunteers meet the last week of January for the Easter packages, and the last week of September for the Christmas packages to be packed.
Volunteer donations of both goods and money from our community fund this operation. Click here for a list of items that can be donated.
Volunteers are not just members from Grace but also people from the community. We would love to have you join us. If you are interested in volunteering call 217-429-5374 for more information.
If you have a deployed military person you would like to receive a care package contact the church office at 217-429-5374 with the name and address to ship the package to.
Outreach Ministry
Our Outreach Team exists to “equip the congregation to meet people where they are and to plant seeds of faith in order to grow them into disciples of Jesus in the family of God.” We have responsibility for our welcoming ministry including our Welcome Center and Greeter/Usher Team. In addition, Outreach coordinates events in the community for our congregation to reach out to our neighbors with love and invitation of Christ.
See our Get Involved page for information on being a bus driver, Greeter/Usher. See our Events page for upcoming community events or church event for community participation.
TV Ministry
Each week our worship service is broadcast on WBUI-TV 23, which is also called CW23 Sunday at 11am. The service is a week delayed. You will find the service on Comcast channel 6 or HD914.
Worship Support Team
The Worship Support Team at Decatur Grace assists with preparing communion the first Sunday of each month and at other special times during the year. We decorate the sanctuary for Palm Sunday, Easter, Fall, and Advent. We’d love to have anyone join us who is interested in helping with this important ministry.