Our Mission. The Triune God has called us to bring the lasting comfort of Jesus Christ to the peoples of Portland and beyond. To this end, we bear witness to God’s Law which reveals our need as sinners; we proclaim the Gospel which is the power of God for salvation; and we share in the Life of Christ which is living hope for eternity. Our passion is to bring this truth of God - Law, Gospel, and Life - to a dying world.

Grace.  We believe that God created all things good. He created man and woman to share his image of righteousness and holiness. But through the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all humanity now live in bondage to sin and misery. How can we be set free? Only by the grace of God. "You were dead in sins and trespasses.... But God made us alive together with Christ. It is by grace you have been saved" (see Ephesians 2:1-9).

United. As Christians, we are united by the truth and authority of God's Word - Holy Scripture. We believe sola scriptura: that the Bible alone reveals all we need to be free of sin and the powers and principalities of this world. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.... All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.... Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom...and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (see Deuteronomy 29:29; 2 Timothy 3:16; Colossians 3:16).

Reformed. "But doesn't everyone believe the Bible?" At Grace United Reformed Church we believe the truth of Scripture as summarized and confessed through the Protestant Reformation: The Belgic Confession (1561), Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and Canons of Dort (1619). At the center of this teaching is the Gospel: we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. "Our only comfort in life and in death is that we are not our own but belong in body and soul to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all our sins with his precious blood and has set us free from the tyranny of the devil.... Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him." (Heidelberg Catechism, QA 1).

Church. We are a church belonging to the one holy universal and apostolic Church.  The Lord Jesus Christ established and instituted the Church for the ministry of the Word (preaching of the Law and the Gospel), the ministry of the sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and the shepherding of God’s people by pastors and elders. As a historic christian church we heartily profess the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

Our Story. We began in 2008 through a small group with a shared love for Reformed theology and vision for the Gospel to the peoples of Portland. That small group Bible study was nurtured by the teachings of RC Sproul, inspired by the zeal of White Horse Inn, and mentored by the congregation of Immanuel’s Reformed Church in Salem. In 2009, Rev. Dan McManigal (MDiv Westminster California 2001) was called to be our church planter.

Three years later Rev. Steve Oeverman (MDiv Westminster California 2004) was called to be our minister of the Word and sacraments.

Over the years, a vision to plant a church took shape among the leadership and members of Grace URC. In 2019, Rev. Chris Coleman was called as a church planter. In February of 2020, Peace United Reformed Church held its first services in Vancouver, WA. God continues to sustain and bless Peace URC.

Then in 2023, Grace URC extended a call to Josh Feil to serve as associate minister. Rev. Josh Feil was ordained in November of 2023.

We give great thanks to our mighty heavenly Father who has so richly blessed the gospel ministry of both Grace and Peace.