A Parish at the Corner of Two Towns
Christ Episcopal Church stands at the corner of Park Avenue and Bloomfield Avenue in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, a single building that anchors a congregation shared by two neighboring towns. Since 1858, English families and their neighbors in what was then a wider Bloomfield (still encompassing Glen Ridge and Montclair) have gathered here in the Anglican tradition. Today the parish calls itself Christ Church in Bloomfield and Glen Ridge, a name that captures the two communities that have shaped it across more than 165 years.
Visitors approaching the church find a stone sanctuary designed by the architect William Halsey Wood, built in 1892 on a site chosen so that parishioners in the newly formed borough of Glen Ridge would have a more central location than the original Liberty Street building. The present church replaces an earlier structure that was destroyed by fire. The sanctuary seats roughly 250 in the main pews, with room for another 250 when side pews and added chairs are brought in, and the building is wheelchair accessible. Parking is available on neighborhood streets and in the municipal lot across Bloomfield Avenue.
The parish describes itself as a diverse and joyful community that is part of the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement in the Diocese of Newark, and it welcomes all who come. Its motto - "An Anglican Church Growing in Faith, Serving Our Neighbors, Creating Community" - is more than a phrase. It is the shape of the weekly life inside and beyond the building.
Sunday Mornings at 10:30: The Choral Eucharist
The principal Sunday service is the Choral Eucharist at 10:30 a.m., the gathering the parish calls its biggest worship service of the week. The service follows Episcopal Rite II from the Book of Common Prayer. The congregation sings a mix of traditional hymns accompanied by the Adult Choir (the choir does not sing during the summer months). Communion is offered to all who come forward, and healing prayer is available for those who would like to receive it. After the service the parish gathers in the Parish Hall for the coffee hour, and the joy of the community is on full display.
The same 10:30 a.m. service is also the home of Sunday School. Children gather in the Toddler Room in the Parish Hall, and youth in sixth grade or older are invited to serve as acolytes in the sanctuary. The church also sets aside space for its youngest visitors: a "Kidzone" with a play pen, rocking chairs, a play mat, crayons, toys, and picture books sits inside the worship space, and the joyful noise of children is welcome here. Nursery care for infants and toddlers is provided every Sunday.
For those who cannot be in the pew, the 10:30 service is offered to an online congregation through Facebook Live, and recordings are uploaded to the parish YouTube channel on Sunday evening. A weekly bulletin, Sunday Paper, and Children's bulletin can be downloaded for those following along at home, and giving is available online.
Other Sunday and Weekday Services
The parish offers a full week of worship beyond the main Sunday Eucharist. At 8:00 a.m. on Sundays a small and contemplative Spoken Eucharist takes place in St. Mary's Chapel, a chapel on the side of the main church. Worshipers often stay afterward to share coffee and fellowship.
At 6:00 p.m. on Sundays the parish holds Last Chance Mass, a casual, interactive, and fun worship service held outside in the Glen, diagonally across the street from the church, when the weather permits. When the temperature drops or weather turns poor, the service moves indoors.
Joyful Noise!, a brief thirty-minute service designed for children up to seven years old with hands-on and interactive elements, is offered at 9:15 a.m. on Sundays and again during the week for children in the Nursery School. The Sunday morning edition is currently suspended, but the Wednesday gathering for Nursery School children continues.
On Wednesday evenings the church becomes a place of quiet prayer. The labyrinth is available for walking meditation beginning at 7:00 p.m., with chant or other peaceful music in the background, a hint of incense in the air, and candlelight. At 8:00 p.m. a short service of Evening Prayer, Compline, or Eucharist, sometimes with healing prayer, takes place in the choir loft. Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m. bring another short Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, also in the choir loft.
Music in the Beauty of Holiness
Music has been central to the life of Christ Church for generations. The history of the parish notes the 44-year tenure of W. M. "Buck" Coursen, Jr., who led a 75-voice men and boys choir and, in later years, a 50-voice girls choir, from 1936 through 1980. That tradition continues today through the Adult Choir, which numbers about fifteen to eighteen singers supported by four paid section leaders.
The choir rehearses on Thursday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and provides an anthem each Sunday of the program year, additional music at special seasons, and supports congregational singing. Its repertoire is deliberately varied: chant, Tudor choral works, music of the Anglican Revival, spirituals, jazz, American shape-note music, and works by contemporary composers all have a place. The choir also sings the parish's Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols and the Annual Lenten Evensong, a sung Evening Prayer.
The church houses a three-manual, thirty-five rank Moeller organ, installed in 1951 and fully rebuilt in 1990 by Moeller, with the console receiving a complete restoration in 2015. Two fine pianos complement it: a Chickering grand in the sanctuary and a Steinway grand in the choir hall.
Ryan Bridge serves as Director of Music. The choir welcomes new members from those in high school and older.
A 28-Foot Labyrinth in Bloomfield
Tucked inside Christ Church is one of its most distinctive features: a 28-foot labyrinth based on the one at Chartres Cathedral in France. Labyrinths have ancient roots and were a central feature of many European Roman Catholic churches in the Middle Ages; many still survive today. At Christ Church the labyrinth is offered as a meditative and prayer practice, the twists and turns a metaphor for the journey of life itself. The weekly Wednesday labyrinth walk is part of the parish's commitment to spiritual formation, and all are welcome to walk it.
Children, Families, and the Nursery School
Childcare and education have been part of Christ Church's identity since 1967, when the parish took what was then a forward-looking step: providing innovative half- and full-day nursery school programs at a time when most people thought a mother's place was in the home. Today the Nursery School offers a complete year-round childcare program for infants through kindergarten, designed to meet children's educational, emotional, and spiritual needs in a safe environment. Extended care is offered from 7:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, throughout the year and during school breaks.
The school shares the rhythms of the church year with the parish. Photographs record the children's Ash Wednesday service, Thanksgiving celebration, Christmas festivities, and graduation each spring. At graduation, the rector's three-legged black lab, Lexi, often participates in cap and gown as Professor Lexi, leading the procession and offering a few words of advice.
Sunday School meets every Sunday during the 10:30 a.m. service. The program uses the Workshop Cycles curriculum, a model built on creative, hands-on activities that help children engage the stories of God and God's people. Children work on the same story or concept for several weeks through different learning approaches: Art, Drama, Music, Story, Computer, Movie, and Kitchen workshops. Youth in sixth grade and above are invited to serve as acolytes, and volunteers are always welcome.
Youth Group, Seniors, and Small Communities
Beyond Sunday morning, the parish nurtures a web of smaller communities. The High School Youth Group meets twice a month, generally on Sunday evenings, and additional days for special events. Its gatherings mix spiritual and topical discussion in sacred space with movie nights, game nights, community service, and trips.
The Friendly Seniors gather every Monday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Choir Room for cards, games, conversation, and what the parish describes as "loads of fun." The group is open to all.
The Women's Group, founded as a casual sacred listening and storytelling circle, meets monthly. The Men's Group meets on the third Sunday of each month and pursues a mission of Christian fellowship, collaboration, and service, working with other Christ Church committees and groups on projects that support the parish's mission. The Book Club gathers at a parishioner home on the last Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. and chooses each month's title together.
Adult Formation rounds out the offerings, with programs intended for exploration, engagement, discernment, and dialogue about the faith journey. Among the regular offerings is Theology on Tap, known locally as the 4Ts, held on the third Thursday of each month at Fitzgerald's 1928 on Herman Avenue, where adults gather for informal discussion at a local bar and grill.
Food for the Hungry, Care for Animals
The parish's two named outreach ministries reach outward into the wider community. The Food Ministry collects food every Sunday and provides regular donations of both food and money to the Presbyterian Food Bank on the Bloomfield Green. The Animal Ministry collects donations each Sunday for PAWS of Montclair and the Bloomfield Animal Shelter, in addition to hosting the annual Blessing of the Animals, a service that invites pets and their people to give thanks for the unconditional love shared with companion animals.
The parish has also hosted PFLAG-NJ, supporting LGBTQ people, families, and allies through a chapter that met at Christ Church on the second Thursday of each month. That chapter has since closed, but the parish has expressed its intention to offer a similar group in the future.
Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals
As in all Episcopal parishes, the three great rites of passage shape much of the pastoral life at Christ Church. Baptism is understood as the sacrament by which God adopts us as God's children, members of the body of Christ, and inheritors of the Kingdom. Baptisms are celebrated within the principal Sunday service so that the wider community can welcome new members, and they are scheduled on festal days that emphasize the meaning of baptism: Easter, Pentecost, All Saints' Day, the Sunday after Epiphany (the Baptism of Jesus), and during the Bishop's visitation. Baptisms performed in other Christian denominations are recognized, and adults or older children who wish to affirm their commitment within the Episcopal Church are invited to explore Confirmation or Reception.
Weddings at Christ Church are services of worship in which a couple publicly declares before God, their families and friends, and their faith community a commitment to a lifelong union. The clergy ask for at least nine months from the first meeting to the ceremony. Marriages follow the Marriage Rite of the Book of Common Prayer, 1979; civil unions follow a related rite. At least one of the persons must be a baptized Christian. The church seats roughly 500 when side pews and added chairs are used, and the building is wheelchair accessible. No marriages are scheduled during Lent.
Funerals are planned with the Rector, Mother Diana, in cooperation with the family and the funeral home. The parish keeps fees for employees who give their time as low as possible and recommends the Five Wishes program developed by Aging with Dignity as a way to record health care and end-of-life wishes.
From 1858 to Today
The origin of Christ Episcopal Church dates to 1858, just prior to the Civil War, when English families in Bloomfield gathered to worship in the tradition of the Church of England. The parish of Christ Church in Bloomfield was formed that year and the Reverend Henry Marsh was chosen as the first Rector. In November 1860 the cornerstone of the first church was laid on a lot on Liberty Street. Born in troubled times, both political and financial, the parish struggled through its first fifty years.
When the original church was destroyed by fire in 1892, the present building at Park and Bloomfield Avenues was constructed to satisfy the desire of parishioners in the newly formed Glen Ridge for a more central location. The parish name was amended to Christ Church in Bloomfield and Glen Ridge, and the ninth rector, the Reverend Edwin White, was appointed. The church has long been a parent to other congregations: between 1860 and 1902 four missions were established that subsequently became separate parishes, the most notable being St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Montclair. In more recent years the trend has reversed: Christ Church welcomed members of the Church of the Advent in Bloomfield in 1996 and Trinity Church in Montclair in 2007 when their doors closed. The parish marked its 160th anniversary in 2018 with a Founders Fest that has become an annual October celebration of the parish's founding on October 4.
The Rector, the Deacon, and the Parish Staff
The Reverend Diana Wilcox is the twenty-first Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, having begun her ministry here in January 2014. Known to the congregation as Mother Diana, she is an energetic preacher with deep commitments to social justice and outreach, programs for youth and young adults, and spiritual enrichment for all ages. She is the author of the award-winning children's book "Why Isn't God a Girl? A Young Girl's Journey to See the Image of God in Herself." She holds a Master of Divinity from Drew University and a Bachelor of Arts from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and previously served as the Protestant Chaplain at Montclair State University from 2010 to 2017. Before entering ordained ministry she worked in information technology management, most recently as Vice President for Open Systems Engineering and Global Program Management for AIG. She lives in rural Sussex County with her three-legged black lab, Lexi, and two cats, Katie and Lauren.
The Reverend Deacon Jackie McLeod served her field education at Christ Church during 2023 and 2024 and was ordained to the vocational diaconate on April 13, 2024. Her professional life included twenty years as a professional fundraiser for national, state, and local organizations and a long career in public health as Executive Director of Healing Communities Network, a prison re-entry program that operated in six New York State prisons for more than forty years.
Candice Whitaker serves as Director of Communications and Family Ministries. Ryan Bridge is Director of Music. Aazhae Coleman is the Nursery School Director. Bonnie VanOrnum is Director of Finance. Don Gibson serves as Sexton.
The parish is led by two Wardens, Tom Reynolds and Michelle Ryndak, and a Vestry that includes Denise Massay-Williams, Carol Madden, Bill Seeman, Leo Toledo, Alex McClean, and Laurie Calfo.
An Episcopal Identity
Christ Church is an Anglican congregation within the worldwide Anglican Communion, part of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Newark. As the parish's own page for newcomers puts it, The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, present in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in seventeen nations. Its mission, drawn from the catechism of the Book of Common Prayer, is "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." The church's worship is shaped by the Book of Common Prayer, the primary symbol of unity among Episcopalians who are many and diverse but come together in Christ through common prayer.
Christ Church holds up the Anglican Communion's Five Marks of Mission as a framework for its life together: proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, teaching, baptizing and nurturing new believers, responding to human need by loving service, seeking to transform unjust structures of society, and striving to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the earth. A diverse and Christ-centered community that invites people from all heritages and traditions, the parish has been featured in national coverage of diversity in the church and has grown significantly over the past several years.
The parish's tagline is simple: "All Are Welcome!" It is the first sentence of its self-understanding and the standing invitation at the corner of Park and Bloomfield Avenues.