Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church

At GCPC our faith calls us to practice…
Theological CURIOSITY, Moral COURAGE, Abundant COMPASSION, Beloved COMMUNITY

Grace Covenant is a distribution site every day from 12 noon – 4 pm
and a hub for resource sharing.
Come by to let us know what you need and we can send runners with supplies or do wellness checks.

789 Merrimon Ave. AVL 28804.
Parking lot entrance is off side street of Gracelyn,  approximately 2 miles north of I-240.

Water, toiletries, diapers, Similac, depends, feminine products, hand sanitizer, some non-perishable food items, paper products, some cleaning products,

You can support financially here: https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/-/form/give/now

Choose “Pastor’s Discretionary Fund” from the drop-down menu

There is now power and internet access at the church.
NO BATHROOMS STILL.

In-person and Livestream Service: Sunday, September 22 | 10:00 AM

Trusting that God’s grace embraces and desires covenant with all people, Grace Covenant seeks to be an inclusive and hospitable place of spiritual growth. All persons are welcomed into this fellowship and membership regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, ethnic or racial identity, economic position, residency status, or political affiliation. We trust that God is always at work transforming each life and our life together, helping us to better follow Christ’s example of love and courageous welcome.

Land Acknowledgement

  • The land that the church is on today on Merrimon Ave was land along a main thoroughfare of trade and travel for the people we know as the Cherokee.
  • Merrimon Avenue and Broadway-Lexington Ave were both trails the indigenous communities created and used.
  • Not far from where the church sits, At the top of the hill between Merrimon Ave and Lexington is an ancient Cherokee gravesite.
  • The Cherokee didn’t believe in owning land—much different than the views of the European colonizers who took it from them and brought the concept of ownership of land.
  • This church sits in the City of Asheville named in 1797 after NC Governor Samuel Ashe, who never lived here but who enslaved many people to accumulate his wealth and social and political capital in this state.
  • Merrimon Avenue is the name of a man who not only enslaved people to generate profit that they did not share in and that they were held captive to secure for his heirs and not for theirs, but his life’s work was to defend and shore up the institution of slavery in order to protect the economic interests of white people. Augustus Summerfield Merrimon (1830-1892), U.S. Senator and Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, wrote, “Slavery has certainly existed from the earliest times down to the present, and it would seem that it is, in one sense, of divine appointment.”
  • By the 1850s, this land was taken and claimed by a white slave owner, John B. Whiteside, who was an organizing member of the First Presbyterian Church in Asheville.
  •  When the Presbytery purchased the land in the 1950s, our newly formed Grace Covenant Church benefited from the unjust economic benefits for white neighborhoods created by redlining.
  • Let us remember the history of this land and remember that we are committed to the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery that authorized the genocide of indigenous people and the enslavement of people for the economic gain of those in power. And all that Christianity was appropriated as a way to authorize the violence.
  • This community of faith will not tire in our commitment to healing those deep wounds.
  • We acknowledge our complicated and painful history on this land and as Christians in a denomination deeply formed by whiteness.

Sunday Worship

You can join us in-person or online for Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church worship on Sundays at 10:00 am.

(Previous worship services and devotionals are also available at this link.)

 

 

 

Prayer Requests

Realm Login

Grace Covenant uses an online membership platform called Realm. This system offers ways to connect with each other and support your involvement in our church.

Click HERE to login to Realm.

Faith 4 Justice & SOS: Saving Our Selves

  • Faith 4 Justice Asheville is faith leaders provoking justice for and with black and brown bodied people through faith and racial equity work.
  • SOS – Saving Our Selves – Creating alternatives to unjust systems. What they don’t teach you in school.

Click here to learn more about our fiscal sponsors and/or donate

 

Upcoming Events

  • Wisdom in the Woods

    October 18, 2024

    REGISTER HERE on Realm . . .

    View Details
View All Events

Latest Sermons & Services

  • “We The People”

    September 8, 2024

    by Marcia Mount Shoop James 2:1-17 “James . . .

    View Sermon
  • “Homily – Celebration of Marriage of MC Ellis and Trina Jones”

    August 31, 2024

    by Marcia Mount Shoop 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 “ . . .

    View Sermon
View All Sermons

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