Grace Church Bainbridge Island

History

 

Grace Church was born June 7, 1992 on a sunny Sunday morning. Sixty-five church friends met to worship, pray, and seek a new way to be the church in the world. We took up a collection for prayer books, hymnals, and a very large coffee pot, then set off on faith on a journey.

 

During our first twelve months we celebrated an ongoing flow of “firsts” — Eucharist, newsletter, bank deposit, picnic, Christmas pageant, and baptism. As we marked our first year together, we also formed our first clergy search and received consent to organize as a mission. In September 1993 we named ourselves Grace. A year later we called the Rev. William Harper as our first permanent vicar. He’s been with us ever since. In 2010, Grace graduated to parish status.

 

Today Grace is blessed by a lively congregation of more than 400 families, a $3 million building, ten acres of land, a $685,000 annual budget, two clergy, and vital outreach ministries in the local community and around the world. Grace has become an anchor in the lives of all who come to the tall front doors seeking peace, a deeper knowledge of God, and a safe and welcoming place for their children to grow into young adulthood.