Atlantic, IA— As of Sunday, September 12, 2021, the Atlantic Evangelical Free Church is now officially known as GracePoint Church. According to Senior Pastor Donald McLean, “There are many reasons to refresh and rebrand. While we are proud to continue our partnership with the Evangelical Free Church of America, we’ve come to realize some parts of our name are confusing for people. For example, the term ’evangelical’ has taken on different connotations in recent years that have little to do with what we mean by the term. We’ve also noticed that the word ‘free’ means different things to different people.

“And even having ‘Atlantic’ in our name isn’t entirely accurate. We certainly love the city of Atlantic, and the majority of our congregation lives here. But more than 25% of our people come from other towns in the area. We want those people to know they are welcome, too!”

Pastor McLean said “We decided on the name GracePoint Church, because it captures the essence of who we are as a church. Our church’s mission is to connect real people to the Real God by engaging our communities with the hope and love of Christ. And that’s what God’s grace is all about – He connects real people to Himself through the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. We see our church as a point (or place) where people can connect with God’s grace for themselves. And once we’ve experienced this grace in our own lives, we then have the joy of pointing other people to Jesus Christ. Hence the name – GracePoint Church.”

GracePoint Church is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, an association of about 1500 Bible-believing churches throughout the United States. GracePoint’s ministries include an active youth program led by Andrew Johnson, Pastor of Student & Worship Discipleship, as well as a wide selection of small group Bible studies and many other opportunities to be involved. The church also offers AWANA, a children’s program for pre-K through grade 5 that runs on Wednesday evenings during the school year.

GracePoint Church is located at 1 East 22nd Street, on the corner of Chestnut and 22nd Street, in Atlantic, Iowa. Sunday worship is at 10:30 a.m. and all are welcome. You can learn more about the church at VisitGracePoint.com or on Facebook at GracePointAtlantic.