Church of the Week: St. John's Episcopal Church
Below is an article from the October 28, 2017, edition of the Grand Haven Tribune about our church's ministry.
Each week on this page, we will be featuring information about one of our local churches. This week’s featured church is located across the street from Grand Haven City Hall.
Name of church: St. John’s Episcopal Church
Address: 524 Washington Ave., Grand Haven
Denomination: The Episcopal Church
Faith statement: As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we believe in God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, tracing our heritages through those English roots to the beginnings of Christianity. Our worship is based in ancient liturgy, believing the sacraments — particularly Baptism and Communion — are ways we experience God today. We affirm the ancient Creeds as the sufficient statements of the Christian faith and we welcome those who believe them with fervor alongside of those who are seeking or doubting but are hungry for God and more love in this world. We believe the Holy Spirit continues to guide the church into all truth, just as Jesus promised, and so we have sought to be open to the Spirit on questions such as the ordination of women, the practice of birth control, the affirmation of our LGBTQ members, and the call to be agents of justice in the world. Whoever you are, whomever you love, and wherever you find yourself on your spiritual journey, the Episcopal Church welcomes you!
Year congregation established: 1866
Pastor: the Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, rector
Youth pastor/other key staff: the Rev. John Infante, associate rector; Reyna Masko, Children & Youth coordinator; Nick Palmer, director of music
Number of members: 323
Average weekly attendance: 123
Times of worship services: Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. in English, 12:45 p.m. in Spanish
Sunday school/youth group options: Sunday School and Youth Group at 11:30 a.m. Sundays
Other services/events for church members: Canterbury Children’s Choir (a part of the Royal School of Church Music) rehearses twice a week, Sundays at 2 p.m. and Thursdays at 4:30 p.m., and is open to all children in the community (no cost for parish members). Every Monday our Men’s Brotherhood of St. Andrew meets at 5:30 p.m. Every Wednesday our 20s/30s group meets at 6 p.m. The second and fourth Thursdays of each month our Women’s Ministry Group meets at 6:30 p.m. Every third Thursday our Movie Group meets at 5:30 p.m. We also have an active ministry for seniors known as SAVVY (Seniors Acting Very Very Young).
Community outreach missions: Loving Spoonfuls serves a hot meal to the hungry, no questions asked, each Sunday at 1 p.m. and each Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Our El Corazón Latino Ministry is active not only in welcome of Latinos to our parish but also in advocacy surrounding questions of migrant and immigrant rights. Our Food Pantry provides healthy food, toiletries and baby products, and is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and by appointment with the Parish Office.
Website: www.sjegh.com
Office phone number/email contact: 616-842-6260. Father Cramer’s e-mail is rector@sjegh.com, our associate rector and Latino Ministry can be reached at jinfnate@sjegh.com, and our Parish Administrator Cindi Sanders can be reached at csanders@sjegh.com.
To get your church featured in the Tribune, contact Tribune news editor Mark Brooky at mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com.