Grace Episcopal Church was incorporated in October of 1861, and consecrated in May of 1882. Since 1882 Grace Church continues to be a beacon of hope and haven of healing, playing an integral and transformative role for affecting positive change in Nyack and around the world. Grace Church is active in the community, both as a parish and as individual members, addressing its needs through outreach programs, especially to those in recovery groups.
Grace Church has an enduring legacy of being a welcoming, warm, and mission-driven parish, comprised of over 300 households. Members are representative of Nyack, Rockland County and of nearby New York City in our variety of backgrounds, conditions, ages, life experiences and lifestyles. As a parish, we value deeply and are nurtured by our Episcopal Church tradition and our connection to the Anglican Communion. Our renowned music program reflects our commitment to tradition, yet we have explored new forms of worship. Grace Church has been led in the past by 11 Rectors.
When the Rev. Franklin Babbitt began visiting Nyack as a young priest of 33 in 1861, he perceived as God-given the opportunity to establish an Episcopal church where there had been none before. Though young Nyack men were leaving town to join the Union forces and minds were focused on the accelerating Civil War, Babbitt believed his mission was to preach the Word of God, to see to the needs of the people of the village, and to build a suitable monument to the Lord.Through his leadership, Grace Episcopal Church was incorporated in October of 1861.
Through the years, Babbitt’s talents and energies served the parish well and his vision became reality and finally tradition. During his rectorship (1861-1918), the parish family grew in numbers and in strength to become a continuing force for good in the community. Wishing to affirm the Scripture that says, “This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven,” the Rev. Babbitt encouraged the members of the parish to replace the original wood church with a larger, beautiful Gothic Church of granite and native sandstone with stained glass windows and a bell tower, consecrated in May of 1882.
Since Babbitt’s time, Grace Church has been led by ten rectors. They have contributed greatly to the life of our parish and the surrounding community, building needed buildings and raising the funds to maintain and renovate them. In addition to the church itself, the Grace Church campus now includes a recently renovated parish hall and offices, rectory, memorial garden and columbarium, and three income properties. Fine liturgy and music has long been a tradition and source of pride at Grace Church; our magnificent Casavant Frères organ was built in 1967 and upgraded with additional pipes in 1994, and a choir is active in leading our congregational worship.
In recent decades our rectors have helped to foster joint religious services with the other churches in Nyack; ministered to the people of the village who were in need; sought out those who were unchurched; and reached out to the community by opening our doors to self-help groups. They have encouraged lay ministries among our members, and as they helped us understand and develop our Christian life and faith, they have molded us into a family – diverse though we are- through our worship, and through communal activities and outreach.
The Rev. Franklin Babbitt 1861 – 1918The Rev. Albert Larrieu Longley 1918 – 1922The Rev. Stanley Brown-Serman 1923 – 1928The Rev. Ernest W. Churchill 1932 – 1945The Rev. Claxton Monro 1945 – 1950The Rev. Harold B. Thelin 1950 – 1960The Rev. George Frank Regas 1960 – 1967The Rev. Charles Robert Green 1967 – 1979The Rev. Robert Allen Jewett 1980 – 1993The Rev. Richard Lloyd Gressle 1995 – 2011The Rev. Owen C. Thompson 2013 – 2021
The Rev. Dr. Dustin Trowbridge 2023 –
We believe that Grace Episcopal Church is called by God to live the way of Jesus through a ministry of reconciliation, seeking to restore all people to unity with God and each other, through prayer, worship, spiritual growth, witness and action.
— October 16, 2000
Click below to read A Century of Grace
Click below to read Grow in Grace
Worship Schedule:
8am Holy Eucharist, Rite I
9:30am Holy Eucharist (All Ages Worship)
11am Choral Holy Eucharist, Rite II
130 First Avenue, Nyack, NY 10960
(845) 358-1297
Drone photography and video by Lou Wadzinski