Serving Your Youth at Grace
Grace Church offers many opportunities for children of all ages to grow spiritually, have fun and become a vibrant, giving part of the community. Every day at Grace is filled with the brightness and spontaneity of children. In addition to our Sunday family liturgy, church school and youth groups, Grace Church is home to Nursery School of the Nyacks.
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Family Service
9:30am Sundays
during the school year
A kid-friendly, shorter service meant to serve the spiritual needs of families. The message preached in the homily is relevant to the lives of children and adults. Children participate as acolytes and lectors.
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Church School
10:15am Sundays
during the school year
Children ages 3 to 14 gather after the 9:30 family service to further explore the week’s lessons. These are usually hands-on activities designed to further their understanding of spiritual life. A lectionary-based curriculum reiterates and expands upon the message shared in the 9:30 homily and involves discussion, games and crafts. Special activities take place throughout the year including the Christmas Pageant, Feast of St. Francis Pet Parade, Earth Day activities and Martin Luther King, Jr. family giving day.
Our Junior Youth Group for kids in 6th -8th grade meets during the regular church school time most Sundays and focuses on community service, friendship. Refreshments are served and all faiths are welcome.
There will be Sundays that church school is not in session (holidays, summer months, school closings, etc), so please check the main calendar for those dates.
Contact: Sandy Rodriguez 845-358-1297, Ext. 15 or smrod74@yahoo.com
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Bread For Life
Early June
Our version of what is traditionally known as First Holy Communion. Children typically spend a Saturday morning learning about the Eucharist, baking bread, then serving the bread for communion on Sunday.
Contact: Sandy Rodriguez 845-358-1297, Ext. 15 or smrod74@yahoo.com
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Confirmation
September to June
Confirmation is a sacramental rite that is undertaken as a mature, public commitment to living out our baptismal faith in the world.
The youth confirmation program includes classes, services projects, team building and a retreat, and is designed to offer a safe place for our young people to explore the breadth of our Christian tradition, to ask questions and express doubts, and to discover what they truly believe. The class is generally open to those 8th grade and older.
Confirmands participate in a four-part curriculum which involves a review of the concepts of Christianity, communal worship and parish community service. Confirmation is a program beginning in September and concluded with a visit from an Episcopal bishop to commemorate completion.
Contact: Parish office, 845-358-1297
Senior Youth Group
The Senior Youth Group had taken an annual Church Youth Service Mission trip. Past trips have been to Louisiana, West Virginia, Montana, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
Pre-COVID, the youth group would organize a variety of events to involve the parish and raise funds for the trip, including an Easter Fair, Rummage Sale, Haunted House, citrus sale, monthly Sunday morning hot breakfasts and the sale of fair trade items.
The Senior Youth Group is restructuring and looking for new leadership.
Please reach out to the parish office if you are interested in volunteering: parishoffice@gracechurch.org
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Youth Service ​Mission Trip
Early summer
Since 2006 a major focus for our Senior Youth Group (all high school students) each year has been the Church Youth Service Mission trip (CYSM), which has included works trips to Louisiana, West Virginia, Montana, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Throughout the year the youth group organizes a variety of events to involve the parish and raise funds for the trip including an Easter Fair, Rummage Sale, Haunted House, citrus sale and monthly Sunday morning breakfasts that feature a bountiful “oatmeal bar” and the sale of fair trade items.
The Senior Youth Group is restructuring and looking for new leadership.
Please reach out to the parish office if you are interested in volunteering: parishoffice@gracechurch.org
Official Membership in the Episcopal Church
In addition to the Rite of Holy Baptism, individuals wishing to become Episcopalians and members of a particular Episcopal parish must be received into the Episcopal Church. Individuals are encouraged to participate in a catechism course (Offered in a question-and-answer format, the Catechism found in the back of the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 845-862 helps teach the foundational truths of the Christian faith).
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Catechism courses vary from parish to parish, yet, each should ideally focus on liturgical practices and theological principles that are foundational to the faith (i.e. sacraments, creedal statements). After the completion of the course, and individual is invited to be received into the Episcopal Church at an official confirmation service, where the bishop will lay hands on the individual in the midst of the congregation and welcome them into the Body of Christ through the Episcopal Church.
Parish Membership: Individuals who wish to become members of a particular Episcopal parish and are already Episcopalians must ask their former parish (if there is one) to send a letter of transfer and have their membership officially transferred to the new parish. Members of the parish are considered “Communicants in good standing” which means that they are baptized and are actively involved in the life of the parish including, through volunteer-ministry and service, financial support (as able), and prayer. Communicants are able to serve on the Board of Vestry and vote in parish elections, and are encouraged to use their gifts and skills as they feel called for the benefit of the church-community.
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The Hope and Expectation(s): As the Christian faith and life is a journey one must choose, it is the hope and prayer of any parish community that its members are committed to God, to each other, and to serving the world with the love of Christ. As a church is comprised of human beings, it is not perfect, yet, Jesus’ loves her/us and gave his life for her/us. The Church is a living and breathing organism. In other words, the people (not the building) are the Church, the Body of Christ in the world.
The success or failure of a church depends solely on its membership and the commitment of each and every baptized individual to do his or her part for the glory of God and the building up of God’s kingdom on earth. Thus, each member has a covenantal obligation and responsibility to care for one another, respect one another, support one another, and share in this sacred and life altering and enhancing work of God in the world.
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(Copyright 1999, Diocese of Oregon. All rights reserved.)
Become a Member
Initiation: “Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body, the Church” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 298). In the waters of baptism we are lovingly adopted by God into God’s family, which we call the Church, and given God’s own life to share and reminded that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.
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Initiation into the Christian faith begins in the waters of our baptism, for it is from this space that our common life flows. Because the Episcopal Church has a deep sense of Catholicity alongside an understanding of the Reformation, it is often seen as a “bridge” church and as such, many come through our doors from myriad traditions: Southern Baptist, Quaker, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic, to name a few.
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It is for this reason that the Episcopal Church has several rites of entrance into this branch of the Body of Christ. Baptism is primary among them, but depending upon the tradition that one has experienced, the following rites are regularly celebrated.
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Baptism, a sacramental rite that spiritually cleanses and welcomes new members into the community of Jesus Christ. Adult baptism usually takes place at the Easter Vigil service (the Saturday night before Easter).
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Confirmation, a sacramental rite in which a person who has been baptized into the Christian church is confirmed as a member by the bishop.
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Reception, a ceremony celebrated by the bishop, in which someone who has been confirmed in other Catholic communions is received as a member of the Episcopal Church.
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Reaffirmation, a ceremony in which those who have been baptized in other Protestant denominations reaffirm their baptismal vows.
If you would like to learn more about entering into the Christian faith as member of the Episcopal Church, please call or email the parish office.