A Corner of Ridgewood Since 1946
Grace Church sits on the corner of Meadowbrook Avenue in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where its first members gathered in the late 1940s and where three generations of families have walked into Sunday services since. On October 6, 1946, a small meeting was held at the home of Mrs. Leah Stanton in Ridgewood; under the leadership of founding Pastor Larry McGill, thirty-nine charter members established Grace Church. Soon after, the Meadowbrook Avenue property was purchased. Construction began on the original sanctuary in May of 1947 and the basement was completed that November and used for services. The building was finished in 1952 and served the congregation until the current sanctuary was completed in 1964. The original 1947 sanctuary now houses the children's ministry wing.
Almost eighty years on, the church's self-description remains plainspoken: a growing Bible-believing church family in Ridgewood, made up of people from all walks of life who are committed to knowing Christ and making him known. The motto appears beneath the church's name on its homepage: seeking to know Christ and make him known - together.
Gather, Grow, Give, Go
Everything Grace Church does is organized around four words: gather, grow, give, go. The vision statement spells it out: Together we know Christ and are equipped to make Him Known in the ways we commit to gather, grow, give, and go. Each word carries a paragraph of meaning on the church's Vision and Beliefs page.
Gather is the weekly Sunday meeting, where the church seeks to exalt the name of God in a way that encourages the congregation in the grace of the gospel and welcomes every age and background to encounter the love of Christ. The church values an embodied setting where faith is both awakened and strengthened through the elements of corporate worship.
Grow happens as members are intentionally engaged with one another throughout the week. The church teaches that the transformative power of the gospel frees people from relational isolation and ushers them into a faith family where they are truly known and loved as they are formed into the image of Christ.
Give is described as sacrificial giving of time, treasure, and talents, marked by generosity for the sake of building up one another and addressing needs that promote human flourishing.
Go is the sending impulse. Members serve as ambassadors of God, prioritizing ministries of mercy and multiplication, advocating for marginalized groups in the local community, and being involved in the planting and revitalization of healthy churches locally, regionally, and globally.
This four-fold rhythm shapes the language of the whole church: sermons, small groups, classes, missions, and the budget all roll up to these four commitments.
Sundays at Nine and Eleven
Sunday services are held at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. at 340 Meadowbrook Avenue. Visitor parking is available at the front of the church. The 9 a.m. service is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel.
A typical service includes corporate singing, a guided time of prayer led by one of the leaders (a structured period of silence, reflection, thanksgiving, and supplication), expository preaching, and the Lord's Supper. Communion is taken at the end of every service. Before partaking, the congregation spends time in personal reflection, confession, repentance, and accepting forgiveness. Communion is intended for believers; non-believers are welcome to observe.
The preaching is verse by verse through books of the Bible, starting with the original audience intent and moving to application. The church teaches through books in their entirety, and the sermon archive reflects the discipline: years-long series through Exodus, 1 John, Matthew 5-7, Galatians, Ezra, 1 Peter, 1 Timothy, Nehemiah, Philippians, Isaiah, Daniel, John 15, and Acts. Each fall, the church takes a break from the ongoing series for a vision series that refocuses the congregation on its purpose; each spring the rhythm pauses for an Easter series and each December for an Advent series.
The music is described as carefully chosen to be Christ-centered, theologically rich, musically beautiful, and singable by the congregation. The church maintains a public Spotify playlist of the songs used in worship.
After the close of service, many stay to catch up throughout the church and on the grounds before heading into the rest of their Sunday.
What to Wear, What to Expect
The church's welcome page says it plainly: Come as you are. We have a seat just for you. We want you to know and experience the love of God and be transformed by encountering him. The message is for first-time visitors and long-time attenders alike.
Family Ministries: Nursery Through High School
Family Ministries is led by Meghan Polanin, who has served on the Grace Church staff since December 2017 and moved into the Director of Family Ministries role in the fall of 2023. The team's conviction is that every child is an image bearer of God, uniquely created and deeply loved, capable of responding to the Gospel. The ministry partners with parents to disciple the next generation together.
On Sunday mornings, nursery classrooms are open for children from birth through preschool at both the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services. All nursery volunteers are background-checked. Babies and toddlers receive nurturing care, prayer, and a simple Bible story. Preschoolers enjoy interactive Bible storytelling, creative play, and weekly crafts to help them remember and retell the lesson at home. A small snack (Goldfish or Cheerios) is offered, with the option to opt out.
Children in kindergarten through fifth grade begin the service in the sanctuary with their families. After the opening portion of the service, they are dismissed to kidsWorship, held downstairs. Each month, children learn a Key Bible Passage and a Big Picture Question and Answer that highlight essential truths about following Christ. They also read through the Bible chronologically. kidsWorship includes a large group time with prayer, activities, and interactive teaching, followed by small groups organized by grade level. Small group leaders serve consistently through the year, building strong relationships. Children return to the sanctuary before the adult message ends.
Two additional groups run alongside the Sunday program. Gems is a ministry for girls in kindergarten through eighth grade, built around Bible lessons, crafts, and life together, designed to help girls grow in confidence and understand that they are loved and created with purpose. Guys of Grace is the parallel program for boys in kindergarten through eighth grade, built around Bible lessons, games, and adventures. Dads or other male caregivers are welcome to join.
For middle school students, LifeGate meets weekly on Fridays from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, September through May. LifeGate includes fellowship, games, activities, worship, and small groups. Students also take part in retreats, service projects, mission trips, and outings through the year.
For high school students, CommonGround meets weekly on Sundays from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, September through May. CommonGround centers on Scripture study, small group discussions, fellowship, games, activities, and worship. Students are encouraged to be active in church life, grow as humble leaders, and join in retreats, service projects, mission trips, and outings. Andrew Bennett Jr. serves as Youth Director.
Middle school students also have a monthly Study Sunday during the 9 a.m. service, and high school students can attend a Sunday school class that meets between services, from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., for five- to six-week sessions.
Special Needs Ministry
Grace Church wants every child to have access to the Sunday morning programs. The Special Needs Ministry, coordinated by Nicole Thawley, develops strategies for classrooms and teachers and trains one-to-one helpers for children who would benefit from such support. The ministry also hosts a Caregiver Support Group that meets throughout the school year, bringing parents together for connection, encouragement, guest speakers, and prayer. The group is open to anyone caring for a child or young adult with special needs, including Grace Church attenders and members of the surrounding community.
Check-In for Visitors with Children
The church has two check-in stations. The Nursery Check-In Station sits in the nursery hallway; from the main church entrance, visitors head to the set of doors on the right, where signs lead the way. The second station is just inside the main entrance of the church, directly to the right.
Families can pre-register online to skip the paperwork on arrival. After submitting the child information form, families simply visit a check-in station, enter their phone number, and receive their child's name tag for the day. A welcome email follows from the Family Ministries team.
Adult Discipleship: Groups, Classes, Prayer
The adult discipleship work is led by Mary Capalbo, who grew up attending Grace Church and serves as Director of Adult Discipleship and Women's Ministry. The church offers three main pathways for adults: Grace Groups, Grace Classes, and dedicated ministries for men and women.
Grace Groups are the church's small group ministry. Members and regular attenders are encouraged to join a Grace Group to grow with one another in their walks with Christ. There are also Affinity and Interest Groups built around shared interests, and Support and Care Groups that provide life-giving connection with others walking through similar burdens.
Grace Classes meet in three semesters per year and range in focus: Core Grace Classes, book-of-the-Bible studies, parenting and marriage classes, and theology classes.
Women of Grace is the women's ministry. It exists to support and connect women through the study of God's Word and Christ-centered community. Women's Bible studies, women's small groups, monthly and bi-monthly social events, and day-long women's retreats fill out the calendar.
Passing It On is the men's ministry. Its stated purpose is to help men learn to pass on glory to Jesus, credit and honor to other men by building them up, and their faith to the next generation through equipping and discipleship. The rhythm includes regular Saturday morning men's breakfasts, mentoring, men's groups, and other events.
Prayer Ministry gathers multiple times through the week for guided prayer. Those who want to attend or who have a specific prayer need can fill out a Connection Card and indicate interest in Prayer Ministry.
The MomCo and Community Bible Study
Two affiliated ministries meet at Grace Church. The MomCo (formerly MOPS International) supports mothers with young children and meets semi-monthly during the school year. Community Bible Study (CBS) is hosted at the church and offers in-depth Bible study for women and children.
What the Church Believes
The Statement of Doctrine adopted at the founding of Grace Church in 1946 remains the bedrock of theological conviction. It is preserved as Article 2 of the church's governing bylaws and is reprinted on the Vision and Beliefs page in nine sections.
The statement affirms the verbal inspiration of all Scripture, both Old and New Testament, and that the Bible is authoritative, without error, and sufficient for faith and life. It affirms one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It affirms the virgin birth of Christ and that he is both fully God and fully man. It affirms the total depravity of all mankind and the necessity of regeneration. It affirms that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and obtained an eternal redemption with his shed blood. It affirms the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, his ascension into heaven, and his present life there as our High Priest and advocate. It affirms that salvation is the free gift of God, entirely apart from works, possessed by all who have by faith received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. It affirms that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, indwelling all believers upon salvation and equipping them for service. And it affirms the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible is described as the inspired, inerrant, and sufficient Word of God, speaking with final authority concerning truth, life, salvation, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, and the sole authority of all that the church believes and practices.
The Gospel summary walks through creation, the fall, the atoning death of Christ, the resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The church notes that genuine Christians disagree on secondary doctrines such as eschatology, church government, and forms of baptism, but views belief in the Gospel as the very core of what it means to be a Christian.
Leadership Structure
The church is governed by members, elders, and ministry directors and staff.
Members have a covenant relationship with the church and are responsible for selecting and voting on the governing church authorities. Each member is a steward of the Gospel and has been called to gather, grow, give, and go.
Elders are men who lead the church directionally and help care for the spiritual needs of the congregation. The church has staff elders (often referred to as pastors) and lay elders. The current elder team includes Vince Hulbert (Chairman), Kevin Biswurm, Brian Capalbo, Frank Castellvi, Armando Castro, Alex Chan, Bryan Critchfield, George McGovern, and Francis Park.
Ministry Directors and Staff are men and women who oversee various ministries, daily operations, and high-impact areas of the church.
Pastoral Staff
Howie Van Dyk is serving as Interim Pastor. Ben Spalink serves as Associate Pastor of Discipleship, with responsibility for adult spiritual formation, classes, small groups, and other discipleship initiatives. Spalink grew up on the mission field in Japan, attended college and seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and moved to New York City in 2007 to plant a church, which he pastored until 2023. He also led the regional church planting initiative of the Christian Reformed Church for six years, helping plant eight churches, and is an ordained minister in the CRC. He, his wife Christy, and their three children moved to Ridgewood in June 2023.
A Long Heritage in Missions
Missions work at Grace Church stretches to 1946, the year the church was founded. Today the church supports twelve missionary partners across southern Asia, the Middle East, South and Central America, and North America.
David and Robyne Bryant serve with Proclaim Hope! in New Providence, New Jersey, a multifaceted mission committed to fostering and serving a nationwide Christ Awakening movement, with their main focus on ChristNow.com.
Stevens and Jenna DeJesus work with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, discipling and sharing the gospel with students through weekly large group meetings, student-led small groups, one-on-one discipleship, annual mission trips, and leadership training.
The Ellis family serves with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Vanuatu, working through translation of the Old and New Testaments and helping local individuals, families, and churches engage with translated Scripture. They have developed Bible apps, recorded dramatized community recordings, supervised printing and distribution, and established an FM radio station with worship music, Bible teaching, and audio scriptures.
Greg and Nancy Fritz serve with Anda Leadership out of Lititz, Pennsylvania. Nancy is a global trainer and consultant with the 1for50 movement, having trained children's ministry workers in nineteen countries. Greg helps leaders clarify vision and direction.
Susan Grosser serves under the auspices of Christ for the City International in La Carpio, a poor squatter community of San Jose, Costa Rica. She is the nurse at the Carpio Christian Clinic in the mornings and leads children's Bible clubs and women's Bible studies in the afternoons. She works alongside Alvin and Chio Navarrete-Vargas and Sarita Bautista in teaching sewing, parenting classes, computer classes, a Saturday program for more than eighty boys and girls, and weekly Bible studies for young people.
Alvin and Chio Navarrete-Vargas serve with Christ for the City International in La Carpio. Alvin is the pastor of the local church in La Carpio, and together they are heavily involved in Renuevos, a faith-based community center that provides Bible studies, tutoring for children, and women's groups.
George and Cyndy McGovern provide leadership to the Athletes in Action staff serving NFL teams out of Newton, New Jersey. Their mission is to win athletes and coaches to Christ, build those who are Christians in the faith, and train those who desire in the fundamentals of winning and building others in the Christian faith. They have helped conduct chapel services at events such as the NFL Pro Bowl, the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combines, and the Owners Meetings.
David and Susan Parshall serve with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in Asia and the Middle East, training and mentoring new Chinese missionaries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, with current focus on developing resources and making connections in Egypt.
Phil and Renee Remmers lead the Robert Morrison Project out of Durham, North Carolina, a non-profit organization dedicated to translating and publishing reformed Christian literature in Asia and beyond in languages including Farsi, Albanian, Bengali, and Burmese.
The S. family, with five daughters, serves in the Middle East, working toward being able to disciple new believers and plant churches among refugees of the area's major religion. They moved to the region in August 2023 and are currently focused on language learning, cultural adaptation, and developing relationships with neighbors.
Tom and Kathy Sutherland serve with Pioneers Mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Tom is the co-director of OESER, a Christian daycare and elementary school for underprivileged children, and works on projects with local Quechua communities. Kathy is committed to REVER (Restoring Lives, Equipping Restorers) and a small group discipleship ministry.
Ministry Partners Locally and Beyond
Grace Church also supports eight ministry partners. In addition to budget-directed support, a specific ministry is highlighted each year in Seasons of Compassion, giving the church additional opportunity to support that work.
Chosen People Ministries, based in New York City, was founded in 1894 by Rabbi Leopold Cohn. It carries out outreach to the Jewish community through Messianic centers and congregations, discipleship, evangelism, print and digital publications, and benevolence work, with a global presence in nineteen countries.
Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center, based in New Jersey, assists women and men facing unplanned pregnancies with free and confidential services including pregnancy tests, ultrasound confirmation, options education, limited STD screening, material resources and referrals, and post-abortion counseling. The Parenting Readiness Enrichment Program (PREP) provides additional material aid through a child's first year.
Market Street Mission - Good Shepherd serves neighbors in need in Paterson with meals, shelter, and hope 365 days a year, offering safe shelter, a hot shower, a warm meal, and compassionate Gospel care.
The Mendenhall Ministries in Mississippi, begun in 1977, works to break the cycle of poverty in Mendenhall through a holistic ministry addressing spiritual, social, educational, economic, and physical needs. Genesis One, the Christian elementary school of TMM, prepares students for excellence as people of character. TMM also runs after-school programs, SAT preparation, tutoring, college application assistance, a full-time clinic, and a farm providing fresh fruits and vegetables to the community.
New Hope, a ministry in Prospect Park and Haledon where more than ten percent of the population lives below the poverty line, offers professional counseling, parenting classes, mentoring, ESL classes, and a food pantry.
ONOMA Community Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit street ministry based in downtown Paterson, NJ. Each week, ONOMA serves individuals experiencing homelessness by providing food, clothing, and other resources, working from the belief that every person deserves to be known, loved, and treated with dignity.
Servant's Heart Ministries works to model Christ's example of serving others to improve the quality of life in under-resourced communities in northern NJ and NY, through renovation projects, vocational training, and cultivating community leadership, including a Workmanship Program for local youth.
Threads of Grace was started by Grace Church to meet the clothing needs of various ministries, churches, and organizations in and around Paterson. Items donated at the donation shed are sorted and distributed weekly to ministries that report their current and specific clothing needs. Some items are sold online or at pop-up shops, with all profits going to local ministries.
Giving Time, Talent, and Treasure
The church frames giving around time, talent, and treasure. Members are encouraged to use their time to glorify God by encouraging the body of Christ, to use their talents in service to the church and community, and to give financially. Online giving is available through PushPay.
Giving goes well beyond the budget. Volunteers serve across every ministry. Sunday morning programs alone need forty to fifty volunteers each week, and background checks are completed for each volunteer. The church also encourages members to use their gifts in practical ways - from web security to event planning - for the increase of the kingdom.
Employment Opportunities
Grace Church periodically posts open positions. A current listing is for a part-time Operations Assistant who provides administrative and organizational support under the supervision of the Director of Operations, maintaining a visible on-site presence during business hours as a primary point of contact for visitors.
Worship Music and the Sermon Archive
Worship music at Grace Church is curated for Christ-centered, theologically rich, musically beautiful, and singable congregational singing. The church's Spotify playlist is public.
The sermon archive is one of the most extensive features of the ministry. Series include Acts (currently in progress), Isaiah, Daniel, John 15, Philippians, Nehemiah, 1 Peter, Nahum, Psalms and Proverbs, 1 Timothy, Joel, Psalms (2022 and 2021), Galatians, Ezra, Matthew 5-7, 1 John, and Exodus, alongside annual Easter, Advent, Vision, and Stand-Alone series. Each series is available as a playlist on the church's YouTube channel and as individual audio recordings.
How to Get Connected
Grace Church uses Planning Center (Church Center) for events, groups, registrations, and connection forms. Visitors and members can sign up for events, join a Grace Group, register for current classes, apply to volunteer on a serving team, or fill out a Connection Card through the church's online portal.
For families visiting with children, the Hospitality team greets at the door and guides to the appropriate areas. Pre-registration for nursery and kidsWorship is available online.
A Faithful Future
From the home of Mrs. Leah Stanton in 1946 to a corner property on Meadowbrook Avenue that has grown through three buildings, Grace Church of Ridgewood has anchored itself to the same convictions: the Bible as the inerrant and sufficient Word of God, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, expository preaching verse by verse through books of the Bible, communion every Sunday, and the call to gather, grow, give, and go. The same Statement of Doctrine adopted in the founding year is preserved as the bedrock of theological conviction, and the same commitment to know Christ and make him known continues to shape the church's life in Ridgewood and far beyond.