Sudanese Grace Episcopal Church
We make our home in the
facility of Grace Episcopal Church, Grand Rapids, MI. We hold weekly services at 11:30am
Sundays in the Dinka language with readings alternating in Dinka, Arabic and English.
The Eucharist is celebrated by the Grace Church rector on a rotating monthly basis.
There is church school available for youth during the services and members of the
congregation, and the Vestry frequently have meetings following the Sunday services in
the parish hall. The SGEC congregation is served by six preachers: Zachariah, Abraham,
Jacob, Dominic, Susana and Rev. Stanley. Our two principal Evangelists, Zachariah and
Abraham, have been ordained to the deaconate in the Diocese of Western Michigan.
The association between Grace Church and the soon to be formed Sudanese Grace Church all began with a March 2003 visit to Grand Rapids by Bishop Nathanial Garang, of the Diocese of Bor, Sudan. During Bishop Garang's visit there were several gatherings of the Sudanese Lost Boys and Girls who lived in the Grand Rapids area. One of these meetings, with over a hundred Sudanese youth present, was held at Grace Church. Through a question and answer session it was very clear that what was missing in the lives of these young people was a place to worship in the Anglican tradition and a chance to gather for fellowship at the same place. Grace Church answered this plea with an offer to make a home for anyone who was interested.
During the summer of 2003 there were many meetings of the Sudanese representative to consider the offer and by the end of the summer a vestry had been formed and plans for regular services were begun. Two of the young men were selected as prospects for the clergy and by September the congregation was gathering and services began being held.
Grace Episcopal Church received a UTO grant in the summer of 2004 to fund a part time support person to assist SGEC as it becomes more formalized, to act as a liaison between the two churches and to assist individuals of the Sudanese congregation as needed. There is an Advisory Board composed of members of both congregations and a mentor system established to help with church structure. In October 2004 a proposal for a new canon to allow for parochial mission churches was presented and passed at the Diocesan Convention and an application was made to the Diocese of Western Michigan for Sudanese Grace Episcopal Church to become a parochial mission church. This was granted in September of 2005.