"Changing Lives Through Celebration, Education and Recovery in Christian Community"

 

Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ at Grace Mission Episcopal Church, Tallahassee, Florida!

We welcome those who already know something about Grace Mission and any new visitor to our site.  Your prayers, participation, and financial and non-financial support are a great source of encouragement to us. 

We hope all of you will get to know us better by exploring the separate areas of our website shown in the tabs to the left.  For example, to find out more about Grace Mission's past and present and its hope for the future, simply click on "Our Story."  For information about the clergy and lay staff, click on "Contact Us."  And don't miss the video clip "Amazing Grace' (click DVD).  If you want to get to know more about us and how we feel about our church, click on "Life at Grace."  Finally, the schedule of events, service times, main programs, and opportunities to participate in the life of Grace Mission are posted in the left margin tabs.  But before you start browsing through the other areas, we want to give you a bit of basic information about Grace Mission and answer some commonly asked questions.

 

What is Grace Mission and where is it?

First and foremost, Grace Mission is an Episcopal worshiping community centered on Jesus Christ and open to all of God's people.  Although Grace Mission observes the liturgical traditions of the Episcopal church, it does so in a worship style intended to reach out to everyone.

Grace Mission is located at the corner of Brevard and Bronough streets on the edge of Frenchtown, a historically black urban community in Tallahassee. We are a very diverse Christian Community. Approximately 70% of us are of color, about 60% of us are male, and most of us are unemployed or underemployed. Many of us live in the homeless shelter.

 

How did Grace Mission get started?

Grace Mission started with an idea in the minds of a small group of committed Episcopalians (think mustard seed).  The idea was for a radical kind of ministry that crossed racial, social, and economic lines to minister to the whole person.  In January 1977, the Diocese of Florida accepted Grace Mission as a mission station attached to its founding Tallahassee parish.  Shortly thereafter, Grace Mission became an outreach mission of the Diocese of Florida and the Apalachee Council on Ministry.  That is its status today.

Who is in charge?

God, of course!  But within the Diocese of Florida, the Bishop of Florida, presently the Rt. Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard, is the rector.  Two co-vicars, Sterling and Michael Henderson, report to the Bishop and are in charge of day-to-day operation of Grace Mission.  Before they were ordained, Sterling and Michael were two of the founders of Grace Mission.  Grace Mission also has an Advisory Board appointed by the bishop made up of members of many of the churches in the Apalachee Region.

How is Grace Mission Funded?

Unlike a mission church, which is expected to be self-supporting at some time in the future, Grace Mission, as and outreach mission, is supported by the diocese, other churches, and individuals, both from the greater faith community and from Grace Mission parishioners.  The current percentage of support given by these three sources is:

Individuals -- 44%,   Diocese -- 28%,  Churches -- 28%

How can I participate?

There are an abundance of ways to participate in the life and ministries of Grace Mission.  Although many individuals contribute much of their time volunteering to help support those ministers, we think of them as "participants" and not volunteers.  We like them to worship with us, have Bible study with us, share meals with us, as well as, help Grace Mission sustain its various ministries.  If you would like to explore the opportunities for participation at Grace Mission, please click on the tab in the left margin "Participate" and match up your interests with Grace Mission's opportunities.