About Grace

Grace is a congregation of St Marys, founded in 1993 by members of the church. We run a monthly service 8pm on the second Saturday of each month (except August). There is a cafe afterwards with plenty of food and drink. We moved to Saturday evening so that people could stay and socialise longer after the service!

Grace services are a creative mix of new liturgies and church traditions, with contemporary music and media. Each service explores a theme or idea – they are seldom the same twice. The mood is relaxed and reflective. There will be discussion and interactive installations, striking visuals and background music. There won’t be sermons or hymns. Numbers at any given service average 15-25 in recent years but it’s quite unpredictable! Many of our members and regulars travel a long way to see us. We also get overseas visitors who are studying new forms of church in Britain.

Grace is a missional community based around friendship. It is self-organising with no fixed structures or leadership. As well as the monthly service we also meet for meals, prayer, Lent groups, music and arts events, tending allotments etc. We have a community ‘ethos’ which guides our intentions and actions, under the headings Community, Creativity, Participation, Engagement and Risk. We share and explain what we do, in print, online, and at events such as Greenbelt Festival, in the hope that others will be inspired in their own journeys.

For more information visit the Grace website.