Grace Central Coast – GraceSLO

My husband, daughter, and I have been attending Grace Church for almost 3 years now. This church was suggested to me by a family friend. I was a little unsure at first, but I decided to give it a try. I did like the pastor. He is very engaging and has a relaxed look. Pastor Tim tries his best to say hello to everyone.
I like the greeting I get from Arlene. She has been on the welcome team since I started attending. I get my bulletin and she still asks how we are doing and how my daughter is doing.
The child care is great. They are separated into stages. Such as newborns to walkers to 3 and up to potty training, etc. You sign your child in and put your name and your child’s name with special instructions and your phone number so they can text you if your child needs you. They do have pagers as well if you don’t have a cell phone. The childrens ministry director Dori Lunker is always checking in with the leaders of the rooms to make sure everything is going smoothly.
The children in the sanctuary can be irritating at times. Most of them are quiet. At leas the ones that I sit near. I usually try to sit a good distance away from children because I want to be able to hear the message.
There are plenty of things going on at Grace that help you to get involved in volunteer work or staying connected. There are growth groups that are a bible study about that week’s message. You get to sign up for those and there are usually no more than 12 people in each group. All at different times of the week.
I have met a few great people there that are very much like family. This is the church for me and my family. I feel very at home in this church. I haven’t felt that way for years. So I am glad to be where I am supposed to be.

I attended Grace this morning, after the first ½ hour was sure this was the church I had been looking for.
When the sermon started, the little boys next to me started to flip through magazines, drop toys, chat with one another etc. I’m sure they dislike sitting there for one hour being told to sit still and be quite. They was actually very good. Maybe parents are able to block out their chatter and disinterest but I am upper middle age and no longer use to blocking out the noise of children. I have no idea if the sermon was good. I was unable to both hear the children and the pastor. Very dissapointed as this seemed to be the perfect church. I wonder how much the children learned during the service. Probably the same as I learned.

Grace is a bible teaching church that is very outreach and missions minded. In a small town, having such a large congregation (1000 attenders) says a lot. There is no perfect church, but the important doctrines and warm friendly people are strong pluses. We love that they have an amazing children’s and jr hi/​high school program. Awesome for families!

I used to church-​hop during my time in SLO, and I have to say that I enjoyed Grace the most. The people were great, from the pastor to the students and other residents who would attend. Of course they would have to accept that their audience would come and go, and they seemed to adjust well to that. They were very kind and warm without being overbearing.
I attended a couple of events, including a barbecue for homeless people in the city, and they actually went out and picked up homeless people to bring to the church and eat. I had some great conversations that day, and was amazed by their generosity.
The location of the church is great, too. There was nothing I really disliked about the church. I might add that my roommate introduced me to this place, so it might be harder to feel totally comfortable without going with someone you know… but probably not too much harder :)