The Sunday morning worship service is the primary way in which we are formed as disciples. Each week, we come before a holy God, sing his praises, confess our sins, read the Bible, hear the Good News about Jesus Christ, and celebrate God's forgiveness of our sins in Holy Communion, eating bread and drinking wine that symbolize Jesus' body and blood, broken and shed for us. God promised us that his Word would accomplish his purposes (Isaiah 55), and our worship in Word and Table is a major way in which we are conformed to his image.
NOTE: The below Sunday morning Formation offerings (other than the nursery, which runs year-round) are on hiatus for the summer. The Fall Formation offerings will kick off on August 20.
In addition to corporate worship, there are several ways we are formed as disciples on Sunday mornings. This formation time begins following the worship service (and coffee and fellowship time) at 11am, and lasts until 11:45 am. Scroll down the page for details about each formation offering.
Youth and Adult Bible Study (6th grade and older)
The Exploration Class (6th grade and older, Spring Only)
The Biblical Worldview Class (6th grade and older, Fall Only)
Grace Kids Sunday School (K-5th grade)
Grace Kids Nursery (children younger than kindergarten)
This Fall, Michael Neal will lead a Bible study on the book of Leviticus. In the modern church Leviticus tends to be the last part of the Bible that anyone looks at seriously. Because it is largely concerned with subjects that seem incomprehensible and irrelevant today, rituals for sacrifice and regulations concerning uncleanness, it appears to have nothing to say to twenty-first-century Christians. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this class, Michael will show how these Old Testament passages relate both to the New Testament and to contemporary Christianity, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ from Leviticus. This class will meet in the Cooke Hall worship space (for the campus map, see the diagram on the What to Expect page).
Each Spring, Pastor Nick leads The Exploration Class, which is a wonderful opportunity to get to know more about what makes Grace Anglican tick. The class runs for 13 weeks, and covers everything we care about, from "the basics" like "Who is Jesus?" and "What is the Gospel?" to things like how the Anglican church is structured and how it came to be. This class will meet in the Art & Music Building (for the campus map, see the diagram on the What to Expect page).
Note: The Exploration Class is required for those seeking to become members of Grace Church and for confirmation (a ceremonial rite in which a mature believer "confirms" the faith that was celebrated at their baptism). Confirmation (or "reception," if you are confirmed in another Church) is required to become an official member of or to seek ordination in the ACNA (our denomination), or to serve on the vestry (the council of advice that supports and works with the pastor) of Grace Church. For completion, you must personally attend at least nine out of the thirteen weeks of the class. If you aren't able to make this commitment, we hope you can attend the next Exploration Class.
As the world outside our doors seems to tear itself apart over issues of identity, sexuality, and justice, it is important for churches to be thinking about a more active catechesis on these so-called “issues of the day” and how a Christian with a solidly biblical worldview should perceive them. In his book Live Not By Lies, Rod Dreher suggests that—more and more—churches and families are going to have to be “resistance cells” against the world’s false gospels about identity, sexuality, and justice. In a sense, that's the purpose of this class: to strengthen our resistance cell.
More accurately, we’re going to be proclaiming the Good News in the face of the world’s bad news, and helping equip you to proclaim it within your own families and in your own lives. This class, led by Pastor Nick, will meet in the Art & Music Building (for the campus map, see the diagram on the What to Expect page).
Our Sunday School meets in the Art & Music Building. For a campus map, see the What to Expect page.
Sunday School at Grace Anglican Church engages kids in a gospel-centered, structured, and active learning environment. Sunday School is fun! Bible lessons are taught using Lifeway's Gospel Project curriculum, where kids hear, week in and week out, the good news of Christ's finished work for this worn-out world. Every week teachers lead our kids through a catechetical "mini service" based on the Book of Common Prayer (2019). It's a fun, kid-friendly liturgy that assists families in training their children in the basics: the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Martin Luther taught the importance of this in the introduction to his Shorter Catechism: "...with young persons...teach them first of all the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, etc., according to the text, word for word, so that they can repeat it after you and commit it to memory."
At Grace Anglican's K-5 Sunday School, kids learn in a classically Protestant, content-rich environment. Every week, kids have fun learning the profound Biblical stories of the Good News of Jesus Christ along with the basics of our faith through singing, hand motions, older kids reading to younger kids, antiphonal recitation, and most importantly: through the caring, interested, and devoted attention of each Sunday School teacher and volunteer.
Our Fall 2023 Sunday school will be split into two groups:
K-2nd Grade: Our K-2 group will be using The Gospel Project's "The Mission Begins" curriculum. "The Mission Begins" helps kids discover how after Jesus returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit—whom He had promised to send—was given to the disciples. Filled with the Holy Spirit’s power, the small group of disciples shared the gospel and the early church grew rapidly. The church is God’s plan to bring praise and glory to Jesus. Through the church, the gospel goes beyond Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the end of the earth. The leaders of the early church addressed disagreements and problems by reminding everyone that Jesus is their ultimate leader and that they share the common mission given by Him to take the gospel to the entire world.
3rd-5th Grade: Our 3-5 group will be studying Jesus in the Old Testament, looking at a survey of typology and Christophanies in the Hebrew scriptures and exploring the explicit lines drawn between the Old and New Testaments, seeing how Jesus Christ was God's plan of salvation from the very beginning.
Children of all ages are always welcome in the service; coloring sheets and crayons are provided. For your convenience, our nursery (which opens at 9:15 am) is available for children who have not yet started kindergarten. A nursery volunteer will be available at check-in to help you figure out where to go. For a campus map, see the What to Expect page. The nursery is open until 11:00am during the summer (when there are no Formation offerings) and until 12:00pm during the school year (when there are).
We have a computerized check-in system at the nursery; each child will receive a sticker with a unique alpha-numeric code that matches a sticker given to the parent. We have background-checked and trained nursery volunteers. The safety of your child is our first priority.
Well Child Policy
We know kids get sick! While sharing is a good thing, sharing illness isn’t so fun. If your child has any of the following symptoms, we ask that they rest at home or with parents during worship:
Temperature of 100 degrees or higher in the last 24 hours
Vomiting in the last 24 hours
Diarrhea in the last 24 hours
Severe Coughing in the last 24 hours
Colored nasal drainage
Pink eye
Head lice
Undiagnosed rash
Open skin lesions
Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (last 14 days)
Any infectious disease
