Founded in 1828, Grace Church looks forward to celebrating our Bicenntenial very soon! Over the past five years we have listened, gathered, surveyed, focused, and discerned – asking how the Holy Spirit might be inviting us to grow in our next 200 years. Keeping all of our hopes and dreams in heart and mind, we embarked upon a Bicentennial Capital Campaign for A Future of Grace.
We take our part in the mission of the Church: ‘To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ,” (BCP, 855). To share in God’s mission, we have discerned three key areas of shared ministry in our community: Prayer, Compassion, and Belonging. These three focus points ground our entire life as a spiritual community and weave together every aspect of the development side of our campaign.
The Bicentennial Campaign is about BELONGING. It’s about what it looks like to belong within the Grace community – as families, adults, children, youth – through all of our worship, programs, and services. It’s also about the physical presence of Grace as a space that belongs to our community as a whole. How can we create and maintain space that exists for and with our neighbors in Gainesville? How can we be a blessing to our own members and to our wider community? How can we make belonging, as a member of the Body of Christ, both tangible and attractive? Individual and communal?
In 1828, a group of Christians came to Gainesville and established an Episcopal community with a vision for the future. In January 2020 we launched a $1.5 million campaign to honor our bicentennial milestone and build on a two-century foundation for Grace Church. Just two months later, with prayerful consideration, the Bicentennial Committee made the decision to suspend the campaign in light of COVID-19 and its impact on our life in and outside of Grace.
As excited as we were to pick back up this important work in the spring of 2023, we also realized that some of Grace’s needs had shifted over the pause. We spent time listening to where we were in our parish’s life through conversations with individuals and groups, as well as with a 2022 survey. Nurturing the lives of our young people and families continues to be a primary goal for the parish. This makes our hearts happy, as we can think of no better way to step into our third century of shared ministry and prayer than to focus on future generations of Grace.
While we recognize the need to reconfigure the nave and expand the narthex and entry space at some point in the future, the campaign relaunch focused on improvements to the Grace Center and other areas outlined below.
The youth of Grace are an integral part to the present life of Grace and their space has been completely remodeled, with hard surface flooring, modular furniture and storage solutions, and the installation of windows along the back wall to allow for natural light. Audio and visual technology was updated to allow a better use of technology in youth programs and by other parish and community groups that occasionally utilize the space.
When Grace Church acquired what is now known as Grace Center in 2002, the interior was remodeled, and the parking lot was regraded and repaved. At the time, we did not have enough funds to update the exterior of the building. As part of the Bicentennial campaign, we will create a covered entryway and ADA-compliant walkways into the Grace Center. Additional details include new roofing, landscaping, and brick work to tie the building in with the rest of our campus.
The restrooms in the greeting area and in The Grace Center have been gutted and renovated, niches have been added in two columbarium bays, the walkway through the St. Francis Garden was torn out and re-poured to make it ADA accessible. Additional projects still to be completed include replacing the 20-year old carpet in Parish Hall and the greeting area, and installing new exterior and interior signage, helping visitors find their way.
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
(BCP 832)