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Our Beliefs
The following is a concise statement of our beliefs. Our doctrine is more fully expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The Bible: We believe Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God. The Bible is therefore authoritative over all matters of faith and practice.
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The Trinity: We believe in one Triune God, who is eternal and unchanging, existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Man and Sin: We believe that by nature all people are sinners, corrupt, and guilty in the sight of God. Mankind is unable to save themselves from God's judgment against sin. It is only by God's grace through Christ that salvation is made available to all who believe.
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Jesus Christ: We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who by his perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross, atoned for the sins of all who believe in him and has clothed them in his righteousness earned for them.
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The Holy Spirit: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who indwells God's people and enables them to believe in and follow Christ.
Justification: We believe that sinners are made right with God by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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The Church: We believe that the church is God's covenant community and the sphere in which God's grace is found, through the preaching and teaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
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The Return of Christ: We believe that Jesus will return on the last day, visibly and bodily, where he will judge all mankind and will glorify and receive all his people into his consummated kingdom.
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Our Commitments
Biblical Worship: We believe that God alone is the one who determines how He should be worshipped in His Word. In every element of our corporate worship we strive to be directed by the Word of God. We read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, and sing the Bible. We do this with reverence and with joy, because we worship our creator and redeemer. We were created and redeemed for worship!
Reformed and Presbyterian: We are committed to our reformed and presbyterian heritage. We are a reformed church, meaning that we hold to an historical reformed confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. We believe that these historical reformed expressions are the best human summaries of the teaching of Scripture. We are also a presbyterian church, which means we as a church are led by a plurality of ordained elders. We believe that God's word teaches this structure of church government, and that elders are to be qualified and godly men, who lovingly shepherd and care for the flock of Christ.
Expository Preaching: We are committed to expository preaching, which means that we preach through books of Bible. By doing so we ensure that we are nourished and fed by the whole counsel of God in which we are called to preach (Acts 20:27).
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Corporate Prayer: Christ desires His church to be a "house of prayer" and so we are committed to be a people of prayer. As we gather as a family in corporate worship or prayer individually throughout the week, prayer is essential to the life of the church. God is pleased to hear and answer us for our good and for His glory.
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Advancing Christ's Kingdom: We are committed to being a church that extends the light of the Christ to those who are in darkness. We believe Christ is faithfully building his church, and we desire to be faithful in our calling to evangelism and the Great Commission.
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Our Affiliations
Grace Community Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. Our denominational affiliation and distinctives ground us in the rich Reformed tradition. For more information, follow this link the Presbyterian Church in America’s website. ​
Grace Community Presbyterian Church is a church in the Pacific Northwest Presbytery. Please See the Pacific Northwest Presbytery’s website for details about our region. ​​​​​​
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Rev. Joel Zakahi
Senior Pastor
Joel grew up both in Hawaii and in the Yakima Valley. He is a graduate of Grace College (B.A. History, 2010) and Westminster Seminary California (M.DIV, 2018). After graduating from seminary, he served as assistant pastor at Trinity Church (PCA) in Mililani, HI from 2019-2023. In July of 2023, Joel became the pastor of Grace Community Presbyterian Church. He is married to his lovely wife Sydnee. He also teaches Biblical Greek and Hebrew at Pacific Rim Christian University.
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Dick Shipley
Ruling Elder
Dick Shipley and his wife, Sue, are delighted to find a loving home in Grace Community Presbyterian Church. GCPC has helped us to grow in knowing and loving our Lord. The Shipleys have lived in Kitsap County for 47 years raising two sons as well a foster daughter. Dick worked as the Chief Engineer at Puget Sound Naval shipyard until he retired in 2003.
Mike Kucera
Ruling Elder
Mike Kucera serves as a Ruling Elder. He was born in Medford, Oregon, and graduated from Oregon State University. He retired, after 20 plus years, from the Marine Corps in 2005. He currently works for the Department of the Navy at Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor. He accepted Christ as Lord and Savior in his late thirties. In 2001, he married his wife Jenny, and they moved back to the Pacific Northwest from Washington DC. In 2017, he and his wife Jenny joined the loving fellowship of Grace Community. Mike and Jenny enjoy their two loving dogs, Bosco and Maya, cruising in their 1989 Corvette, and look forward to more traveling once Mike retires.
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Cassie Gillis
Music Director
Music is an important part of praising our Savior in church. The music at Grace Community Presbyterian Church is based on the Scriptures with the singing of hymns and a mix of some contemporary music. We use the Trinity Hymnal as well as praise songs from a wide range of decades. Great music with great words stand the test of time. Cassie’s background in music stems from 35 years as a choir director and theater arts director in the Bremerton public schools. “I feel very blessed to be able to serve the Lord through the ministry of music."
Doug Frazier
Ruling Elder
Doug has worked in the financial software and information technology business since 1968. He and his wife, Melinda, moved in 2015 from North Carolina to Port Orchard, WA to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren. In 1982 Doug accepted the Lord and joined a PCA church in Florida where he later was ordained as a deacon. “I have been seeking to know how the Lord wanted me to serve Him. Then we moved to Washington and found our home at GCPC. Grace is a great place to grow and serve the Lord and His people.”
Jenny Kucera
Women of Grace
Jenny served about four years on active duty with the Navy as a Naval Aviation Maintenance Officer and another 16 in the Reserves, retiring in 2001. She also worked in federal Civil Service in Naval Aviation Logistics & Maintenance as well as Program Management, retiring in 2012. Jenny also spent many years volunteering in prison ministries, teaching and discipling women and, most recently, in ministry to the homeless of Kitsap County with the Kitsap Rescue Mission.