A Seaside Parish Since 1889
All Saints Church stands on Lake Avenue in Bay Head, a small borough set between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay on the New Jersey Shore. More than 130 years old, the Episcopal parish has gathered worshipers under the same shingled roof since a locomotive bell in its bell tower first rang on July 7, 1889. The parish family now stretches from the streets of Bay Head and the surrounding Ocean and Monmouth County communities to members who join online from as far away as California and Mexico for Sunday worship and a Zoom coffee hour. The Rev. Kathryn L. King, who has served as rector since 2018, leads a community known for combining dignified liturgical worship with the relaxed spirit of a seaside town.
From Summer Hymn-Sings to a Year-Round Congregation
All Saints began the way many Jersey Shore congregations did, as a project of summer residents who wanted a chapel of their own. In the summer of 1888, a group of seasonal visitors who had been holding prayer services in their homes and Sunday evening hymn-sings at the Casino on the oceanfront at Bridge Street resolved to build an Episcopal church in Bay Head. Within a year their dream was realized, and a locomotive bell called the faithful to the nave on July 7, 1889. That same bell still calls worshipers to Sunday Eucharist today.
The parish was historically a summer church, but for roughly the last 40 years it has been a year-round congregation. About 24 years ago, the fellowship space, offices, and Christian Education wing were expanded, and a year-long restoration following Superstorm Sandy in 2012 has shaped the present sanctuary. The font in the narthex, by happy accident, served as an anchor when the building was lifted from its foundation by flooding, helping save the structure. The congregation rebuilt with the same determination shown by earlier generations.
Worship has long drawn distinguished visitors. Among the early supply clergy was Dr. George Martin Christian, rector of Grace Church, Newark, who served at All Saints during summers in the 1890s and gained national attention for defending the inclusion of the Nicene Creed at the General Convention in 1889. A later summer visit came from The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. F. Donald Coggan, then Archbishop of Canterbury, who officiated on September 4, 1977, wearing shorts and sandals beneath his robe, a balance the parish still strikes between dignified worship and the easy feel of a seaside retreat. A verse from the Rev. R.B. Gibbon, who served from 1940 to 1949, captures the place: "Deep in my heart this church shall ever stay, set in the sand between the sea and bay."
Sunday Worship and the Book of Common Prayer
Two Sunday Eucharists anchor the week at All Saints: a spoken service at 8 a.m. with no music, and a festive service at 10:15 a.m. featuring the parish choir. Both follow the Book of Common Prayer, with worship described by the parish as broad-based, reverent, and designed to be familiar to Episcopalians from many parishes while remaining representative of Episcopal worship to visitors. The 10:15 a.m. liturgy is livestreamed on Facebook so that members across the country can take part in real time.
Wednesday morning also has its own rhythm. Holy Eucharist is celebrated in the morning, and a Bible study gathers at 10 a.m. after the service. During Lent, Evening Prayer is sung in the nave at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. In summer, from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, a Saturday evening Eucharist is held in the garden at 5:30 p.m.
The parish takes its identity as part of the Diocese of New Jersey, the Episcopal Church, and the worldwide Anglican Communion seriously. Its stated core values include being welcoming and friendly; faithful to an Episcopal ethos shaped by the Anglican theological idea of God's revelation through Scripture, Tradition, and Reason; and guided by a liturgical tradition rooted in the prayer book, which provides liturgies for the Eucharist, Morning Prayer, Compline, and a wide range of personal devotions.
A Music Program Built on a Casavant Organ
Music has been central to All Saints from the start. In its early years the parish rented an organ, shipped from Philadelphia for $1 each season. That modest beginning grew into a serious music program in the 20th century, shaped in part by the late Dr. Lee Hastings Bristol Jr., then president of Westminster Choir College, whose guidance helped the parish acquire its 2-manual, 13-stop Casavant Tracker organ in 1973. After the organ suffered damage from Superstorm Sandy, it was carefully restored, and on May 17, 2024, All Saints marked 50 years with the Casavant organ through a concert by organist Dr. Michael J. Diorio and the All Saints Chamber Orchestra under Dr. Mark Trautman.
The four-part choir is integral to the 10:15 Sunday service and is often joined by string quartets or brass at festival liturgies. Most recently, a challenge gift and enthusiastic parish support funded a new 7.5-foot Yamaha S7x concert grand piano, replacing a 40-year-old instrument that never fully recovered from the storm. The new piano supports both worship and the chamber concerts that have become part of the parish's musical identity.
Outreach, Inreach, and Hospitality
Parish life at All Saints is shaped by a strong culture of lay leadership and fellowship, organized into several standing ministries. Outreach supports needs close to home and around the world, including routine support for St. Gregory's Pantry and the local fire department, "loose plate" collections for victims of natural disasters, donations to the Dress2Impress clothing program, and the collection of toiletries for U.S. military men and women overseas. The committee also hosts the monthly Supper with All Saints, a hot meal and companionship for those who need them.
Inreach cares for the parish family itself, mailing cards to shut-ins and to those who are ill or grieving, delivering dinners monthly to the homebound, and bringing altar flowers from Sunday services to parishioners who could not be present. At exam time, the committee sends care packages of home-baked goods to college students from the parish.
Hospitality Hour follows the 10:15 a.m. service and is one of the parish's most popular traditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the parish's temporary exile at St. Mary's-by-the-Sea after Superstorm Sandy, hospitality moved to Zoom so that members could still gather after the livestream. The Coffee Hour is also where the Annual Duck Derby fundraiser and other community-building efforts take root.
Women's Guild, Altar Guild, and Volunteer Life
Every woman of the parish is a member of All Saints' Women's Guild, which is part of the wider Episcopal Church Women organization. The Guild meets in prayerful fellowship and friendship, supports the Outreach and Inreach programs, contributes to local and statewide charities, and sponsors Student Service Awards through two main fundraisers: the St. Nicholas Bazaar each November and the Annual Fashion Show Luncheon at the Bay Head Yacht Club in summer.
The Altar Guild cares for the parish's distinctive handmade treasures: needlepoint kneelers at the altar, needlepoint Stations of the Cross along the nave, a wood and earthenware baptismal font, and the silver, brass, linens, candles, and flowers used in worship. Its quiet work prepares and cleans up after Sunday services, weekday services, weddings, funerals, and baptisms, and members tend the Memorial Garden.
Beyond the standing ministries, members take part in volunteer efforts year-round, including beach clean-ups, Rock-the-Boat, and bike-a-thon fundraisers. Non-perishables for St. Gregory's Pantry are collected continuously, and new opportunities to serve are taken up as they arise, especially after natural disasters.
Baptisms, Weddings, and the Memorial Garden
All Saints welcomes families for the sacrament of Holy Baptism, which is typically celebrated during Sunday morning Eucharist but may be held at other times. The parish especially treasures baptisms at the Easter Vigil, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints' Day, the Sunday following, and the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. Each candidate is sponsored by one or more baptized persons, and, in keeping with Episcopal tradition, a person is baptized only once.
Weddings at All Saints reach back to August 1892, when the first was celebrated in the rustic seaside nave. The parish celebrates the sacrament as an outward and visible sign of God's grace and love for a couple, and welcomes all loving couples and families regardless of gender or sexuality. One member of the couple must be a baptized Christian, pre-marital counseling is expected, and at least 30 days' notice is required under Episcopal canon law. Wedding coordinators Elizabeth Sayen and Debbie McCullam work with each couple alongside the rector and music director.
Funeral and memorial services at All Saints are anchored in the resurrection and the words of the prayer book: "Life is changed, not ended." The rector and music director help families plan a liturgy of scripture readings and music. For those who choose cremation, the Memorial Garden offers serene surroundings; ashes may be placed in a columbarium niche or interred in the garden's flowerbed.
Clergy, Staff, and the Wider Life of the Parish
The Rev. Kathryn L. King serves as rector, with John Milas as Minister of Music and Clayton Smith, Sr. as Verger. Robin Beaudry is parish administrator, Jeanette Caldwell is sexton, Cheryl Smith is bookkeeper, and Larry Kyse is treasurer. The vestry includes Senior Warden Chris Kyse and Christine Kyse, Junior Warden Chad Newsome and Jane White, and members Meg Beresik, Mike Ling, Hilary Morse, Jo Patrone, and Penny Witt.
The parish also hosts the Bay Head Christmas Walk on the first Friday in December, with treats, hot chocolate, and crafts in Bristol Hall. Every other year the parish offers a museum-quality display on loan from the St. Nicholas Center at the Virginia Theological Seminary, and the footbridge and tree on the Howe Street corner are decorated for the occasion. The Sunday closest to his feast day brings a special visit from the Bishop of Myra himself, in costume, handing out chocolate to all present.
Members traditionally commemorate significant life events by sponsoring altar flowers or the sanctuary light, with the commemorations printed in the Order of Service. Annual pledges and additional giving can be made online through the parish's eGiving page, and checks may be mailed to the church office at 500 Lake Avenue. Visitors are warmly welcomed to worship, to coffee hour, and to the parish's many ministries, both in person in Bay Head and through the Sunday livestream on Facebook.