A Church on the North Side of Fort Wayne
Grace Point Church of the Nazarene sits on Mayhew Road on the north side of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and serves as a hub for worship, discipleship and outreach across the surrounding neighborhoods. The church family describes its mission in simple terms: help children and adults become lifelong disciples of Christ who are connected to the church community, share Jesus with their friends, serve others, and keep growing in their faith. Grace Point is known for running two Sunday morning services, a packed Wednesday evening with parallel youth, men's and women's tracks, and a robust Celebrate Recovery ministry that many in the region turn to on Monday nights.
Sunday Mornings on Mayhew Road
Two identical Sunday morning services are held at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM, both taking place in the Worship Arts Center. The gatherings blend music led by the Worship Arts team with prayer, scripture, Communion, testimony, and a mix of arranged and spontaneous prayers. Services are livestreamed online for those unable to attend in person, and a weekly bulletin is posted that lists the upcoming Sunday's order of worship. Children birth through age 2 are welcome in the nursery during either service, and a full kids ministry runs alongside the services.
Wednesday Nights at Three Tracks
Wednesday evenings at 6:45 PM are one of the defining rhythms of Grace Point. Three tracks run at the same hour. Teens gather through Door #8 for Grace Point Youth Ministry, which runs until 8:00 PM. Forge for Men meets in Room 36, and the Women of Grace Connect Bible Study convenes concurrently. Each of these groups meets weekly, and together they make Wednesday one of the busiest nights of the church's calendar.
GPKids and Shema: Partnering with Parents
GPKids, also called Shema Kids, partners with parents to help shape children into lifelong disciples of Christ. On Sunday mornings, the nursery cares for babies through age 2 during both services. Age-level classes for 2-year-olds through kindergarten walk through the Bible chronologically, while elementary grades learn how to study God's Word for themselves through a program called Bible Extreme that includes games, crafts, projects and Scripture memory. Preschool Praise meets for the first 30 minutes of the morning with music, creative tools, object lessons and puppet shows before children move into their age-level classes. Kids' Worship gathers first through sixth graders for upbeat music, games, object lessons and large-group teaching, while a preteen "youth group" for older elementary students explores themes unique to their age and meets in Room 34. On Wednesday evenings, the nursery is open for babies through age 3 when parents are involved in other activities, and a separate program in Room 10 serves children ages 3 through kindergarten with Bible stories, music, crafts and games. Child safety is taken seriously: families check children in at a station and receive printed tags, all volunteers complete Ministry Safe training, and background checks are required.
GPYM: Teens on Wednesdays and Sundays
Grace Point Youth Ministry makes disciples by helping teens connect to God and to one another, learn God's Word, and reach out to their world. Wednesday nights from 6:45 to 8:00 PM open with a set led by the teen praise team, followed by biblically based teaching and small group discussion. Junior high students (7th and 8th grade) meet as INYPRA - which stands for "It's Not Your Parents' Religion Anymore" - while high schoolers (9th through 12th grade) meet as Sr. High Alive. On Sunday mornings, teens gather at 9:00 AM in the youth center for Sunday School that begins with games and announcements and then divides into grade-level classes led by teachers who create an environment where teens learn to hear and obey God's voice through scripture and prayer. At 10:30 AM, teens are invited to worship with the whole congregation, either with their families or with other teens who sit together. Throughout the year, teens reach out through mission trips, summer camps, youth group parties, and coffee houses, with details posted on the GPYM events calendar. The youth ministry is pastored by Grant Harder, a Mount Vernon Nazarene University graduate who accepted the call to Grace Point in November 2021.
Celebrate Recovery and Healing Ministries
Monday nights belong to Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered recovery program that the church describes as the best place to be in Fort Wayne on a Monday night. The program meets at 7:00 PM in the Youth Center through Door #9, with a fellowship dinner offered at 5:45 PM on the second Monday of each month. Built around the principles of recovery grounded in scripture, the program emphasizes personal responsibility and spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ. It addresses a broad range of hurts, habits and hang-ups, including abuse, chemical addiction, food addiction, codependency, hurts, sexual addiction, losses, and dysfunctional behaviors. Separate men's and women's handout tracks cover topics such as anger, gambling, self-injury, eating disorders, and same-sex attraction, alongside specialized tracks for newcomers and for sponsors. Other care ministries round out the healing work of the church: Divorce Care meets Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM to provide help and healing for those going through separation, and GriefShare is offered as a friendly, caring group for those grieving, though it is not meeting at this time. Discipled by Jesus groups meet weekly around five questions - "Who do you say that I am?" "Do you understand what I have done?" "Are you listening to me?" "Do you truly love me? Then care for and feed my sheep," and "Do you believe me?" - with a women's group meeting Mondays from 6:00 to 7:00 AM in Room 40 and a men's group meeting Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 AM in the same room.
Adult Sunday School: Seven Classes to Choose From
Grace Point runs an adult Sunday School hour with several distinct classes so that anyone can find a fit. Challengers serves senior adults with Bible study drawn from the Nazarene quarterly curriculum. God Seekers is a mixed-age class that walks through scripture verse by verse, occasionally pairing the quarterly with a video series and including fellowship times, prayer and service projects. Christ Followers is a mix of singles and married adults in various stages of life who study the Bible and rotate between the Old and New Testaments, with periodic book studies and off-site activities; the class begins each Sunday at 9:30 AM. Late Arrivals is taught in a dialogue format and starts about 40 minutes after the service begins because many of its members serve on the praise team and orchestra. Mountain Movers brings together people ages 30 to 50 (with all ages welcome) for participatory study of books of the Bible, the Parables, The Truth Project, Discipled by Jesus, and videos from Right Now Media. Truth Seekers studies the Nazarene quarterly in discussion format, welcomes occasional guest speakers about mission projects, and reaches out to the sick and hurting. Word in Action, made up of adults in their early fifties and up, teaches from the Nazarene quarterly in an applied, discussion-based style and maintains a class prayer chain by email.
Men, Women and Young Adults
Forge for Men, the Wednesday evening men's ministry, gathers at 6:45 PM in Room 36 around the proverb that "iron sharpens iron." Women of Grace, the women's ministry, exists to help women connect in community, encourage one another and grow in Christ. The Connect Bible Study meets Wednesdays at 6:45 PM. Two additional ladies' Bible studies meet weekly: a Friday morning group in Room 36A at 10:30 AM, currently working through Kelly Minter's "No Other Gods - The Unrivaled Pursuit of Christ," and a Thursday morning group in Room 36A at 10:00 AM that resumes each fall. Refuel, the young adults ministry, gathers once a month for fellowship, food and time in God's Word, with a meal and childcare provided so that single adults and young married couples can simply sign up and show up.
Missions: Faith Promise, Alabaster and Disaster Response
Grace Point supports missions locally, nationally and internationally. Faith Promise is the church's primary way of funding global missions, with donations helping to train pastors, provide first Bibles and support church planting in 163 world areas through the Church of the Nazarene. The Alabaster Offering, modeled after the woman who poured her precious perfume from an alabaster bottle onto Jesus' feet, finances the purchase of properties and building supplies wherever the Church of the Nazarene ministers. The church sends both local and international trips each year, and a Nazarene Disaster Response team stands ready to assist communities affected by natural disasters.
Worship Arts
The Worship Arts ministry exists to glorify the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through songs soaked in scripture and an environment where people can encounter Jesus. Services at Grace Point are shaped by music, prayer, scripture, silence, Communion, testimony, and a mix of arranged and spontaneous prayers pursued together in the hope of encountering the transforming presence of Christ.
Community Outreach: Food Pantry and Helping Hands
Outreach at Grace Point is grounded in the conviction that "the smallest act of kindness can be the start of a beautiful story." The food pantry serves families in the community by providing nutritious food for those in need, and the volunteers seek to provide more than a meal by offering hope, encouragement and a sense of belonging. The pantry is open on Tuesdays by appointment and can be scheduled through the church office. The church also fields volunteer teams ready to help neighbors tackle projects in their homes and neighborhoods.
What Grace Point Believes
The beliefs of the church are rooted in the Church of the Nazarene's Articles of Faith. Jesus Christ is at the center of everything: He lived a sinless life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again to give victory and empower his people for life, and He is coming back as He promised. There is one eternal God who is the Creator of all things, existing in three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who is totally loving and completely holy. The Bible is God's Word, accurate, authoritative, and applicable to everyday life. Sin has separated each of us from God and His purpose, and in order to receive forgiveness and a fresh start with God we must repent, believe in Jesus, and commit to His will. The church believes in the power and significance of the Church and the necessity of believers meeting together. Anyone interested in learning more about church membership can attend GP 101, where Pastor Rex walks through what the Church of the Nazarene believes and what it means to become a member of Grace Point.