Grace Church Van Vorst
an Episcopal Congregation
You are welcome at this table.
ABOUT GRACE CHURCH VAN VORST
WHO WE ARE
Members and friends of Grace come from two blocks away, from the far corners of the world, and everywhere in between. We have straight folks, LGBTQ folks, singles, couples, nuclear families and other kinds of families. We have babies and plenty of children. Some of us come from conservative religious backgrounds, some us from progressive ones, and some of us do not come from any religious background. We are recognizable as an Episcopal Church in the way we worship and we have an evangelical joy about the Good News of God in Christ.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe in Jesus.
Our longing for Him brings us here
and makes us family.
We don’t all believe the same things about Jesus, but we do find Jesus present,
just like He promised,
every time we break bread, study Scripture together, visit someone who is sick or imprisoned, or make breakfast for our hungry neighbors.
OUR MISSION
Following Jesus,
we love, we extend mercy,
we spread outrageous joy.
We feed the hungry in spirit, mind, and body.
We practice loving each other because Jesus said the world will know we are His
because of our love.
We strive to help people know Jesus
and give everyone an opportunity to experience God's love whether they are members of our congregation or not.
Our Staff
REV. LAURIE WURM, Rector
The Reverend Laurie Jean Wurm has been the Rector of Grace Church Van Vorst since 2013. Rev. Laurie is the President of Grace Community Services, which provides meals to food insecure and homeless people and health and wellness programming to seniors. She is also the President of Family Promise of Hudson County, a program in Jersey City that offers temporary housing to homeless families, including adult men and is an active member of Jersey City Together, a coalition of congregations and neighborhood groups collaborating on social justice on the local and state levels. Rev. Laurie and her wife Rosemary McLaughlin have been married since 1993 and have two children, John and Lucy.
DR. COLIN BRITT, Music Director
Colin holds degrees from The Hartt School, the Yale School of Music, and Rutgers University. He has served as music director for Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School and assistant music director at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, CT. In addition to his work at Grace Church, he is the choir director at Rutgers Preparatory School and the artistic director and conductor of the West Village Chorale in New York City.
JAZAMINE DAVIS,
Youth Minister
Grace Church welcomed Jazamine Davis as our new Youth and Family minister in January. She is bringing energy and creativity to our youth ministry, and you will love her when you meet her!
SEA PARSONS,
Parish Administrator
Sea has an extensive background working with the homeless community. She also worked as the program manager for Bridges Outreach which provided street outreach to the homeless in Newark, NJ and New York City. Sea was responsible for organizing nightly street outreach to distribute food and clothing to the homeless and those in need. Sea also helped create and direct the Coalition of Services, a network of over 25 organizations that met monthly to provide mobile services offering: medical, mental health, and HIV screening; legal services; and access to temporary and transitional shelters to the homeless in Newark.
The Vestry
Vestry members lead and serve the congregation as legal representatives of the parish. The vestry works with the rector to oversee the health and vitality of Grace Church. They manage the financial and property needs of the church and approve the annual budget. The vestry helps discern God's mission for our church and they carry that mission forward.
To be on the vestry is a calling. All members are asked to dedicate time to prayer and thoughtful consideration before serving.
Lucia Zhanje, Warden
Patrick Hambrecht
Kim Holl, Warden
Shanita Rapatalo
Jenn Roach
Brandyn Heppard
