Sunday Worship at Grace
The Sunday rhythm at Grace centers on two celebrations of Holy Eucharist. During the program year, from August through May, services are held at 8:00 AM without music and at 10:45 AM with music. Between them, at 9:00 AM, the parish gathers for a community breakfast in the Undercroft, and at 9:30 AM adults, youth, and children take part in Christian formation. Childcare for infants through age four begins at 9:15 AM in the nursery. Sunday School for kindergarten through fifth grade runs 9:30 to 10:30 AM, followed by Children's Chapel from 10:45 AM until Communion begins in the main service.
In summer (June and July), the schedule shifts earlier: adult formation begins at 8:45 AM and a single 10:00 AM worship service follows. The nursery opens at 8:45 AM for infants through age three, with Sunday School and Children's Chapel running on the same timetable as the program year.
A typical service includes prayers, Scripture readings, a sermon, communion, and music. Full-text bulletins are available, and all are welcome to receive communion. Visitors are invited to come as they are, whether dressed up or casual.
An Open, Affirming Community
Grace is explicit about being an affirming parish. The community teaches that diversity, including diversity of gender and sexual orientation, is a beautiful, integral part of God's creation, and that God has called all of it good. The parish welcomes people of every race, nationality, gender, socioeconomic status, education level, and ability, and frames diversity as God's idea in the first place. Members and clergy include lifelong Tennesseans and immigrants, trans and cis, queer and straight, poor and wealthy, liberal and conservative.
The church links visitors to Believe Out Loud, TransEpiscopal, the Union of Black Episcopalians, and the Episcopal Church's Indigenous and Latino/Hispanic ministries. Each year Grace hosts a Pride Mass and joins Chattanooga Pride alongside other Episcopal congregations in the area.
Children and Youth
Grace's Children's Ministries, led by Director Betsy Bedwell, serve children from birth through eighth grade. Nursery care for infants through age four is available during the formation hour in a bright, well-tended room. Children in K4 through third grade use a Godly Play curriculum, learning the stories of God through play, art, and wonder, before joining the older class for snack. Fourth and fifth graders explore social justice, creation care, and peace, and use an interactive bulletin with quiet activities during worship.
Summer brings Grace ArtsCamp, a three-day music, art, dance, and drama experience offered for more than a decade, along with Family Movie Nights and holiday celebrations throughout the year. A MakerStudio and PrayGround space are in development.
Youth group meets every week at 9:00 AM. Monthly service projects are held jointly with the youth group at St. Peter's, and Grace youth gather regularly with all the Episcopal youth groups in Chattanooga at events called ChattEY.
Green Grace and the Church Grounds
Grace is widely known for its creation-care work. GreenGrace is a coalition that helps congregations of any faith tradition love, protect, and defend the Earth as God's Holy Creation. It won a 2024 Sacred Grounds award from Interfaith Power and Light for converting three acres of lawn into native habitat.
The Grace grounds are home to a Tennessee Urban Forestry Council Certified Level 2 Arboretum, certified pollinator and butterfly gardens, a community food garden, a free u-pick vegetable garden for neighbors, a permanent water source for wildlife, and a pavilion with a green roof. The property is certified as a National Wildlife Federation Urban Wildlife Habitat, listed as a Hamilton County Master Gardeners project, certified as a Monarch Waystation, and holds butterfly garden certifications from the North American Butterfly Association. The late-1950s church building sits in a densely populated, racially and economically diverse, park-starved part of Chattanooga, and the grounds are open to the public at all times as a green oasis.
Other GreenGrace efforts include green buildings (energy audits, weatherproofing, lighting upgrades, recycling drives, and exploration of solar installation), reducing light pollution, and serving as a Green Neighbor through workshops, plant exchanges, and Earth Day celebrations.
The Brainerd Farmers Market and Community Fridge
The Brainerd Farmers Market operates year-round on the Grace grounds. From April through December, the market runs Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM; the winter market from December through April runs 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Local farmers bring naturally grown produce, eggs, dairy, and meat; bakers offer artisan breads and pastries; makers offer home goods; and artists bring handmade crafts. The market accepts EBT/SNAP, credit, debit, and cash, and a matching-token program from Gaining Ground doubles fresh-produce purchases for SNAP users.
Just outside, in the Brainerd Road parking lot by the accessible entrance, Grace hosts a Community Fridge in partnership with Community Pantry Collective and Seed Theatre. The fridge is open for donations of fresh and frozen produce, unopened milk, packaged meals, snacks, and drinks, and anyone in need may take what they need.
Food, Showers, and Recovery
Grace runs a food pantry from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, stocked with canned goods, bread, pasta, sauce, soup, and snacks. Every Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, a team of Grace parishioners operates the ShowerUp truck in the lower parking lot, offering a warm shower and personal hygiene items to neighbors without housing.
The parish also sees recovery as central to its mission. Twelve-step meetings take place throughout the week: Alcoholics Anonymous on Mondays at 7:00 PM and Tuesdays at 8:00 PM (closed), Alanon on Mondays at 7:30 PM, AA again on Thursdays at 7:00 PM, and Narcotics Anonymous on Thursdays at 8:00 PM.
Grace is an institutional member of CALEB, a coalition of faith-based, labor, and community organizations that organizes around public issues in the wider Chattanooga community.
Music, Prayer, and Learning
Music is led by Director of Music and Choirmaster David Long, who also directs the Chattanooga Bach Choir and conducts the Tennessee Festival Singers, and by Organist Karla Fowkes, who came to Grace after many years as organist and choirmaster at Christ Church, Episcopal. The Parish Choir draws on literature from chant through twenty-first-century works, rehearsing Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 PM and Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM, and singing for the 10:45 AM liturgy and special services throughout the church year. During Holy Communion on Sundays, members of the Order of St. Luke offer prayers in the chapel.
Grace's Centering Prayer group meets Fridays at 1:00 PM, practicing Thomas Keating's method of contemplative prayer followed by reading aloud and discussion; the first and second Fridays are in person, with the others online. An online Morning Prayer and Compline group gathers daily from the Book of Common Prayer, with online fellowship afterward. Adult formation classes, including the Lectionary Class, meet at 9:30 AM during the program year.
Other Ministries and Community Life
Grace Supper Clubs form each program year and meet for shared potluck meals, with each club of eight to ten members setting its own rhythm. A Mahjong group gathers Sundays at 3:00 PM in the Undercroft, and a Quilters' group and a Yoga group meet Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 AM on the fourth floor. A monthly Book Group meets the second Tuesday at 7:00 PM in the Barth room. A Building Team tends repairs and special projects. A Newcomer Team welcomes those exploring membership. A Life Planning team offers information and support around end-of-life decisions and other transitions.
The parish makes its facilities available for weddings, funerals, and community use, and hosts the diocesan headquarters' connections through the Diocese of East Tennessee.
Clergy and Staff
The Rev. April Berends has served as Rector since December 2017, after parishes and worshiping communities in Miami, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee. A graduate of Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, she brings a background in community organizing and public health. She is married to Drew Bunting, an Episcopal priest and songwriter, and they have two school-aged children and a doodle. The Rev. Christopher McAbee serves as Associate Rector, with a background in preaching, Christian formation, and pastoral care; he previously served at St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, and is a graduate of the School of Theology at Sewanee. The Rev. Casey Perkins, a deacon, has served as Parish Administrator since June 2025 and is also assigned parochially at Christ Church Episcopal in downtown Chattanooga.
Visiting Grace
Grace Episcopal Church is at 20 Belvoir Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37411. Office hours are Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The weekday entrance is in the breezeway closest to Belvoir Avenue; ring the bell to be let in. The phone number is 423-698-2433.
Accessibility is taken seriously in a building originally constructed in the late 1950s. Wheelchair users and families with strollers are asked to park in the lower lot off Brainerd Road; the handicap entrance leads to a hall with an elevator that opens on the third-floor nave. Hearing assistance devices are available in the narthex, and ushers will help set them up before a service. Mail for pledges and gifts can also be sent to Grace Episcopal Church, PO Box 80954, Chattanooga, TN 37414.