Grace Church pastor describes congregation's beliefs, youth ministry
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Grace Church in Missouri Valley is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Lead pastor Brad Westercamp said many visitors may not recognize the denomination because its churches often do not carry its name.
Asked what someone should expect on a Sunday, he answered in one line. "We're a grace-filled, Christ-centered church family," Westercamp said in an interview at the church.
"They're gonna get the word of God, and they're gonna get Jesus. And hopefully they'll feel loved by the people they encounter," he said. He said visitors should also expect Christ-centered preaching and an emphasis on grace. "I've made a lot of mistakes, but I need God's grace today just as much as I did when I got saved," he said.
According to the church's published schedule, Sunday starts with adult Sunday school at 9:30 a.m., followed by fellowship and food at 10:30 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. Kidz Club, for children in prekindergarten through fifth grade, meets upstairs during the service.
Westercamp said the congregation includes people who grew up in other traditions. "When they walk into the building and when they experience Christ here, they're drawn to Christ, and then it doesn't really matter what their background was," he said. "It doesn't mean you ignore your history. It doesn't mean you ignore your past."
He said he sees denominational divisions as a failure of unity. "Denomination is man's inability to be the people that God's called them to be, to be in unity," he said. "It's not about being ecumenical, but how do we come together for the purpose of Christ?"
Westercamp said the Christian and Missionary Alliance was started in the late 1800s by A.B. Simpson, then a Presbyterian pastor in New York City. Simpson worked with ministers from other denominations to reach people who were not attending church. Westercamp said Simpson described the gospel as four-fold: "Jesus Christ is our savior, our sanctifier, our healer and our coming king."
He said the denomination has national and district offices, but each congregation is shaped by its own leaders. "Every local church has an elder board, and the makeup of that local church will depend a lot on who those elder boards are," he said.
Westercamp answered a series of questions about the church's beliefs. "We're gonna preach Jesus as the only way of salvation," he said.
He said salvation comes by faith, not works, and cited Romans 10:9-10. "So we believe that you can have assurance of your salvation," he said. "We believe the Bible teaches that."
He said salvation is also meant to change how a person lives. "If God saves you, he's also set you apart, and there's a way you're supposed to live," he said. "It's a life of following Christ deeply. It's a life that leads away from sin, towards righteousness."
"I'm not trying to do good works to earn my salvation, but I wanna please the Lord with the way I live," he said. He said Grace Church is not a church where members can believe anything they want.
Asked about pornography and prostitution, he said lust is a sin. "It's not wrong because I say it. It's wrong because the word of God says it," he said. Asked about abortion, he said, "It's sin. It's taking life."
Asked whether a person can lose salvation, Westercamp said he and his elders may hold different views on some questions. He said church leadership is one area where he has firm views of his own. "I believe that God has created family structure, husband and wives, with specific roles, and he's given authority to men," he said.
He said he disagrees with changes in some other denominations. "I don't love the fact that women are in certain roles, and now even in a lot of those churches, they're ordaining homosexuals," he said. "And the Bible makes it clear that that's sin."
Westercamp said his approach to ministry comes from years with Youth for Christ, which he said focused on teenagers that churches had given up on. The ministry's phrase was "earn the right to be heard." "Discipleship happens before people are even saved," he said.
Describing that work, he said, "Even if young people choose not to receive Christ into their life, we're still gonna love them." Asked how he applies that approach in Missouri Valley, he said, "Same way."
"It's not my place to change someone's heart. All I can do is cast the seed, and all I can do is show love," he said. "And love still means you're gonna have to address the sin."
He said a church that does that will look different from the world around it. "The church can still be attractive to a world that's a mess," he said. "And sometimes you'll find out who the haters are too, because you're taking a stand on something."
Westercamp said he grew up in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He joined the military out of high school and used the GI Bill to pay for Bible college. He and his wife, Keri, worked for Youth for Christ and spent two years in California running youth programs on a military installation. He said they moved to Missouri Valley 19 years ago with four children.
He said a drop in the church's budget about four years after he arrived led him to rejoin the military at 40 as an Army chaplain for the Iowa National Guard, while remaining lead pastor. He said he received a hardship discharge after Keri Westercamp's heart stopped while she was working as a para at the elementary school. He said she was shocked with an AED and "was dead for four minutes." She now has a defibrillator pacemaker.
Westercamp said the couple will mark 35 years of marriage this month. He said all four of their children are married and they have nine grandchildren. According to the church, Westercamp is a member of the Ministerial Association of Missouri Valley and serves other Alliance pastors in the denomination's Mid American District.
Westercamp said the church puts a heavy emphasis on young people. "We're a church, a small church in a small town, but we have a lot of emphasis on our youth," he said. "We're seeing them baptized." He said that without youth, "a church will die."
The youth group meets at 7 p.m. Wednesdays during the school year, according to the church. Westercamp said six to eight volunteers work with more than 40 young people.
The night before the interview, the church took 38 people, including six adults, to a bowling alley and fun center in Omaha. Westercamp said he handed out small Jesus figurines to the students before they went in. "I said, 'Make sure you find somebody tonight to give Jesus to,'" he said.
He said leaders asked the students what they wanted from the youth program this year. "The No. 1 theme that I heard over and over again is, 'I wanna see my friends come to Christ,'" he said.
He said he has watched teenagers baptize siblings and friends and come to church on their own. "I've watched young people bring their parents to church," he said.
Westercamp said the church's membership class is called Grace 101. "We try to help people discover their spiritual gifts, their spiritual pathway," he said. "We could care less if they become members. We'd rather see them just get closer to Christ."
He said prospective members meet with the elder board, and the elders tell them they would be taking on responsibility to protect the church's unity. "Of course you're gonna deal with conflict, and we've had our fair share of conflict like any church," he said. "I think what's different is we still work through it."
He said three families left when the church removed the pews from its current building, a former Baptist church. "Some people do," he said of working through problems. "Other people, it gets a little bit tough, they're gone."
He said the church is still full on Sundays. "We have problems with space," he said. "And I'm thankful for that too."
Grace Church is at 300 E. Erie St. in Missouri Valley. Adult Sunday school begins at 9:30 a.m. Sundays, followed by fellowship and food at 10:30 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. Kidz Club for children in prekindergarten through fifth grade meets during worship.
Prayer and Bible study meets at 8 a.m. Wednesdays, and the youth group meets at 7 p.m. Wednesdays during the school year. The Abide Group, for ages 18 to 30, meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Fridays. The Women of Grace Devotional meets at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays, and the Men's Breakfast Ministry meets at 8 a.m. on the second Saturday. For more information, call 712-642-5995 or email gracecommunityfellowshipmv@gmail.com
