Cliffe knechtle religion
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Cliffe Knechtle answers MSU’s religious uncertainties
An audience of nearly a hundred students congregated outside Mississippi State University’s Colvard Student Union. The voice of Cliffe Knechtle, a pastor who travels to college campuses to create open religious dialogue, rang out from the crowd’s center Monday afternoon.
“In the Deep South of the United States, I’m afraid that there is a type of cultural Christianity – that I appreciate in the sense that there’s often a commitment to a type of ethical system – and I celebrate that and appreciate that. But it’s this mistaken idea that, ‘I’m a good person, God smiles on good people and therefore I’m going to heaven,” Knechtle said. “No. The first beatitude is, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ To be poor in spirit means I’m in poverty before God morally, ethically. I don’t deserve it – I deserve his wrath. But he sends his son Christ to take the wrath that I deserved, in his body on the cross, that I might be forgiven and have eternal life, and I have to respond in humility to that.”
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History
our history
Founded in the spring of 2001, Grace Community Church began when several families asked Cliffe Knechtle to lead an informal Bible study. The thought was to explore how the lessons of the Bible applied to modern day life. As word of the meetings spread, more families began to join in. It soon became apparent that there was a real need for this kind of message, which was formulated around building relationships and serving others. With prayerful research and consideration, the group decided to start a church with Cliffe Knechtle as Senior Pastor, which would be based in New Canaan. First and foremost, Grace Community Church is about the modern application of Christian faith, and how it helps us deal with the challenges and complexities of everyday life.
The name Grace Community Church was
born from the gift of grace that God extends to us all.
On September 2, 2001 fifty people attended the first official service. A week and a half later, the small congregation gathered again to pray for friends and families who had been part of the tragic events
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Cliffe Knechtle
Cliffe Knechtle - Senior Pastor
In addition to being the Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church in New Canaan, Connecticut, he is the host and founder of Give Me an Answer. Cliffe loves to converse with skeptics and truth-seekers to explore the tenants of Christianity at colleges and universities throughout the United States. He has held open air discussions at a wide range of schools such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, the Universities of Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, San Diego, Berkeley, Stanford, Hawaii, Washington and UCLA.
Born in New York City and educated at Davidson College in North Carolina, Cliffe later graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, just outside of Boston. He began working with Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship and various churches around the country upon his graduation from seminary in 1979. He has been the Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church since it began in 2001.
Cliffe is happily married to his best friend, Sharon. They have three children, and six granddaughters.
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