Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I am glad you have surfed or linked your way to our website, and I hope that you find what you have come for!
Grace Church in Galesburg, Illinois is quite a phenomenal Christian community. We are a family of orthodox Anglo-Catholics in the Diocese of Quincy. The Right Reverend Keith L. Ackerman is our "Father-in-God" and our chief pastor, and with him as our model for Christian servanthood we strive to make Jesus Christ known, worshipped, and adored in our corner of western Illinois!
Our faith is that of the ancient Church -- we accept the authority of Holy Scripture, the sanctity of the seven Sacraments, and the fundamental Christian faith as it is expressed in the Nicene, Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. We understand the Church to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and we hold as absolutely essential the Apostolic Succession and the three-fold nature of Holy Orders -- the orders of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon.
Our worship is ordered by the Book of Common Prayer, and is invested with the fullness of western catholic ceremonial. As catholic Christians, we prefer to worship God in the beauty of holiness using ALL of our senses, and that helps to explain, perhaps, the sounds, smells, colors, and actions that enliven our experience in worship. Our principal form of worship is the Sacrifice of the Mass -- also known as the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Eucharist, or "Holy Communion". This is our pricipal liturgy on Sundays, as well as on Holy Days and many weekdays.
Our Christian family at Grace Parish is involved in outreach to the greater Galesburg area and the rest of the world. We are solid supporters of Anglican mission work in the Sudan, as well as right here in western Illinois. Our parish members regularly come together for fellowship, socializing and mutual support in a number of different organizations, including our men's group and "St. Margaret's Guild" -- the women's group at Grace.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like more information about Grace Church, or if you have prayer requests that you would like offered in the Chapel of St. Margaret. We would especially love for you to join us in worship whenever you are near Galesburg. Thank you for visiting our website, and may God go with you in your cyber travels! I remain,
Faithfully Yours in Christ Jesus,
The Rev. Canon Thomas A. Janikowski, SSC
Priest and Rector of Grace Parish.
