About Us

We believe that God offers salvation to all. He saves those who repent and place their faith in Christ alone for salvation (Mark 1:15; Luke 24:47; Acts 20:21; John 1:12,13; 1 Peter 1:9). This salvation is a free gift from God received through faith and apart from human merit (Romans 6:23; 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10; Galatians 2:21; 3:10). God put our sins to Jesus’ account that God’s righteousness might be put to our account (2 Corinthians 5:21). This imputation of the righteousness of God to the credit of the believer is by the declaration of God. It is what the Bible calls justification. “God is the one who justifies” (Romans 8:33). He justifies the ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus (Romans 4:5). The imputed righteousness of God is available “through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (Romans 3:22-25).

Contact us for a full document of our doctrinal statement.

We believe the Holy Spirit moved prophets and apostles to write the sacred Scriptures (2 Peter 1:20-21). He did this employing the distinctive styles of each individual. These writings are God-breathed, the very Word of God (2 Timothy 3:15-17; John 10:35). As such they are unfailingly accurate. They are without error in all that they state and teach as fact, including God’s work in creation, events of world history, and prophetic matters of the future (Matthew 5:18,19).

We believe that God has given us the whole of Scripture, down to the very words. This plenary and verbal inspiration applies, strictly speaking, only to the original manuscripts. These originals are known to us with great accuracy from the many manuscript copies available to us. As God has faithfully overseen the writing of the Scriptures, so He has safeguarded their preservation and recognition in the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament.

We believe that the Scriptures speak with divine authority. We submit to all that they command and embrace them as God’s trustworthy guide for our lives. They are the sole norm of the Christian faith. Their central message is the self-revelation of God and the person and saving work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18; Luke 24:25-27).

In the 1950’s, the Santa Clara Valley began a dramatic transformation from an agricultural setting to a center of modern technology and electronic manufacturing. Opportunities in employment and education drew people from around the country. Among them were six young Christian families, several of whom were from Southern California. They shared common convictions from the New Testament concerning God’s design for the church, how it was to be governed, how Christians should worship, and the importance of teaching directly from the Scriptures. Desiring to live out their faith, they began to meet together in 1956 as a church, calling themselves the San Jose Gospel Chapel.

Within two years, the congregation’s growth prompted a move to rented quarters at the American Legion Hall in Los Gatos. In 1962, they moved to larger quarters in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. The following year, they purchased property in Cupertino and made plans to construct a church building. Upon completion, they renamed the ministry Hillview Bible Chapel as they were no longer meeting in San Jose.

In order to accommodate further growth, in 1997, the elders of Hillview Bible Chapel made plans to establish a second church. After much prayer, they selected San Jose as the location since about 50 adults in the congregation lived in that city, most notably in Blossom Valley. They rented an unused school; and after a summer spent remodeling the premises, on September 19, 1999, Grace Bible Chapel (GBC) came into being. Then, in 2010, GBC relocated to it’s current location at 420 Allegan Circle, San Jose, CA 95123.