Sundays · 12:30pm lunch, 1:30pm service
Grace Harbor Church · 12881 Newport Ave, Tustin

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About Us

We have been gathering as a community since 2020 and were formally established in 2021. We are an independent congregation and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The name

Imago Dei

Latin: the image of God.

Before Scripture tells you a single thing you must do, it tells you what you are. Made. Deliberately. In the likeness of the God who made everything else. That claim sits underneath every other claim this church makes — about worship, about neighbors, about the person sitting three chairs down from you at lunch who votes differently than you do.

It is also a claim we cannot live up to on our own, which is why the two hands in our logo are not quite touching. The reach is God's. We are the ones being reached for.

Our story

A middle church.

Some churches keep the old forms and lose the plain preaching of the gospel. Some keep the preaching and throw out everything that came before 1970. We were not interested in either trade.

So we kept both. We sing hymns and read liturgy together. We catechize. We come to the Lord's Table every week, not four times a year. And then someone stands up and teaches the Bible for forty-five minutes in ordinary English, the way evangelicals have always done it well.

None of this is novel. That is rather the point — we are an evangelical church that is in touch with its roots.

Gathering since
2020
Formally established
2021
Status
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Meeting at
Grace Harbor Church
12881 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780

What we believe

Statement of Faith

Ten articles that set out what we believe and teach.

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God's saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus — Israel's promised Messiah — was conceived through the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God's Word, the Spirit's power, and fervent prayer in Christ's name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ's commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.

How we live it out

Our Core Values

Nine commitments that shape what we actually do on a Tuesday, not only what we say on a Sunday.

01

Be Missional

The mission is not a department of the church. It is the church, sent into Orange County on purpose.

02

Plant Churches

Healthy congregations reproduce. We intend to be a church that starts other churches.

03

Share Leadership

A plurality of elders, not a single personality. Authority carried together and answerable to one another.

04

Unleash Gifts

Every member has been given something by the Spirit. Our job is to find it and get out of the way.

05

Live in Community

Church is not an event you attend. It is a people you belong to, inconveniently and for a long time.

06

Renew the Mind

We think Christianity is true, and we are willing to argue for it. Faith with its reasons intact.

07

Equip Parents

Parents are the primary disciple-makers of their kids. The church exists to hand them tools, not take the job.

08

Engage Culture

Not retreat, not surrender. We stay in the room, in our neighborhoods and in the arguments.

09

Disciple Believers

Included in Jesus' Great Commission to the church is to “make disciples…teaching them to obey everything” that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:19–20). Therefore, we will cultivate discipleship unto Jesus by equipping believers to engage in Bible study, worship, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines that unleash the Holy Spirit's transformation in our lives.

Leadership

Our Elders

Imago Dei is led by a plurality of elders who share the work of teaching, shepherding and oversight.

Brett Kunkle

Brett Kunkle

Elder
Jason Smith

Jason Smith

Elder
Rick Boone

Rick Boone

Elder

Get in touch with an elder

Come see

Doctrine reads better
with a plate in your hand.