Grace Memorial Episcopal Church sits on a quiet block of NE 17th Avenue in Portland's Sullivan Gulch neighborhood, just east of the Willamette River and a short walk from the Lloyd District. Founded in 1908 as the gift of a single laywoman and now approaching the centennial of its English-Gothic sanctuary, the parish describes itself in its simplest and most ambitious phrase as "a parish for all people." The phrase is not decorative. Grace is the kind of church where the rector can be found taking newcomers out for coffee, where the choir loft hosts baroque chamber concerts, where the parish hall feeds anyone who walks in on a Sunday evening, and where the building itself is in regular use by twelve-step groups, an arts school for adults with developmental disabilities, dancers, and a Tai Chi class.
A Sanctuary Built to Look Like a Country Church
Grace Memorial occupies a building completed in December 1926, roughly eighteen years after the parish was born. The structure is an authentic reproduction of a small, naturally lit English-Gothic country church, long and narrow and tall, shaped in the traditional form of a cross. Many visitors remark that the interior feels "just like being in a big old ship." Eighteen beautiful ten-foot-tall pictorial stained glass windows line the smooth white walls of the Sanctuary, donated by members of the congregation between 1933 and the mid-1940s. Above the main front entrance rise three fifteen-foot-tall steel-blue windows depicting the story of the Transfiguration.
Two interior additions stand out. The Richardson Memorial Organ and the eight-foot-tall decorative wooden panels on either side of the High Altar were added in 1971. In 1994 a cathedral-style Table Altar was placed at the center of the transept, while the original two-story-tall ornate reredos at the east end of the Sanctuary, with its hand-carving and tall wooden spires, was preserved intact. A large brass cross with traces of wheat and grapes across its face, hand-made by artist Fred Strickland, sits on the High Altar and was dedicated in 1948 in memory of the parish's first rector.
The Chapel of the Nativity, located off the main sanctuary, is graced by three stained-glass windows installed in the 1930s and 1950s by the Povey Brothers Studio and Albert Gerlach, two of the most celebrated names in Northwest ecclesiastical glass. The windows depict the Shepherds in the Fields, the Holy Family, and the Wise Men Presenting Gifts, and serve as quiet memorials to longtime members of the parish. On the riser of the fourth step leading up from the courtyard into the church are carved words from Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: "My grace is sufficient for thee."
A Parish Founded on a Single Deed
Grace Memorial began with a deed and a name. In the spring of 1906 Mrs. Angeline Berry lost her husband, Fredrick, who had been a member of St. David's Episcopal Church vestry for nineteen years. The Berry family had long wanted a new parish in the rapidly growing Northeast Portland and Irvington neighborhoods. With the concurrence and enthusiastic support of her fellow Episcopalians, on December 28, 1908, Mrs. Berry signed the deed for the last two suitable lots available in Irvington and formally marked the birth of the parish.
In the early twentieth century it was common for Episcopal "Memorial Churches" to be founded in memory of a loved one, but Mrs. Berry did not explain why she chose the name "Grace Memorial." She may have had a late friend named Grace, she may have been memorializing an unnamed person or her late husband, or she may have intended to honor the grace of God. The church believes the last interpretation is most likely, pointing to the inscription carved into the riser of the sanctuary step.
Mrs. Berry became a prominent civic presence in Portland. She had co-founded the local Humane Society, helped found Good Samaritan Hospital and the local YWCA, and served as an officer in the Women's Auxiliary of the Diocese of Oregon. She was elected the first President of the Women’s Auxiliary at the new parish and held that office for nine consecutive years. When she died in August 1920, she left $8,000 - the equivalent of roughly $200,000 today - to the Foreign and Domestic Missions of the Episcopal Church for Bible readers in China. The original Grace Memorial congregation worshipped in a canvas-and-wood tent on January 3, 1909, when about twenty people gathered for the first Service of Holy Communion, with Judge Stephen Bullock of the County Court leading the singing and his daughter playing a portable organ.
More Than a Century of Rectors
Six rectors have shaped the parish. The Rev. Dr. George Van Waters served as Organizing Priest from 1908 to 1910, followed by the first rector, the Rev. Oswald Taylor, who led the parish for thirty-two years. The Rev. John Richardson served from 1942 to 1964, the Rev. Duane S. Alvord from 1964 to 1973, and the Rev. Jay J. McMurren for two decades beginning in 1973. The Rev. Stephen V. Schneider guided the parish through a remarkable period of growth beginning in 1994 and into the early 2010s, with the Rev. Sara Fischer serving as Associate for Faith Formation from 2003 to 2004 and the Rev. Esme J. R. Culver serving as Associate Rector, Interim Rector, and Associate Rector in the 2000s and 2010s.
The current Rector, the Rev. Martin Elfert, has served since 2015. A Canadian who grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Elfert came to faith after the birth of his son Ami and the experience of what Celtic Christians call a "thin place." He was baptized at the Easter Vigil in 2005, attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, served as Associate Dean of St. John's Cathedral in Spokane, and was called to Grace in 2015. He and his wife Phoebe, along with their three children, live near the church in Northeast Portland.
Two Priest Associates round out the regular clergy leadership. The Rev. Dr. D. Corbet Clark has taught and served as chaplain at Oregon Episcopal School since 1988 and currently chairs the Religion Department. He earned degrees from Harvard, Yale, the General Theological Seminary, and Virginia Theological Seminary and remains canonically resident in the Diocese of Olympia. The Rev. Canon Doctor Richard Toll, who was ordained as a Deacon in 1967 and ordained to the priesthood at the parish in 1968, served as Curate at Grace Memorial in the late 1960s before becoming City Missioner of the Diocese of Oregon and going on to lead parishes in Baker, Oregon, and Seattle. He joined Grace as a Priest Associate in 2013.
Susan Jensen has served in music ministry at Grace since 1994. A lifelong Episcopalian and graduate of Lewis and Clark College, she was appointed organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist from 1977 to 1989 and served as principal harpsichordist and organist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra from 1985 to 2018, performing hundreds of concerts including two live broadcasts of Handel's Messiah on National Public Radio. Jo Wiersma, a teacher and Summer Camp Coordinator at Cedarwood Waldorf School, coordinates the nursery program.
The Three Graces and the Wider Campus
Grace Memorial sits at the center of a small constellation of organizations sometimes referred to as "The Three Graces." Grace Memorial Episcopal Church Foundation holds and manages the parish's financial assets. Grace Institute, a separate non-profit, runs the annual summer Grace Art Camp, which the church describes as Portland's largest summer art camp for children, serving more than 1,250 children a year with creative arts programming. The three organizations share a building and a campus but maintain independent governance.
The campus itself is busy seven days a week. In addition to Sunday services and the Sunday-evening community dinner, Grace hosts a Sack Lunch Program every weekday that distributes brown-bag meals through the breezeway. Multiple twelve-step recovery groups, including several Al-Anon meetings, Gamblers Anonymous, Tai Chi, and the Portland Dances of Universal Peace, all meet regularly on the grounds. The parish also provides subsidized space to arts companies and community organizations and hosts PHAME, a school and performing-arts program for adults with developmental disabilities. The Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, with artistic director Adam LaMotte, holds Baroque by Candlelight concerts in the Sanctuary on Tuesday evenings through the concert season.
Worship in the Episcopal Tradition
Worship at Grace follows the Book of Common Prayer and the lectionary of the wider Episcopal Church. The parish celebrates the Eucharist every Sunday, wears vestments, and sings many "old favorites" from the hymnal, but visitors are quick to note that the dress code is relaxed - "you'll see as many T-shirts as neckties here," the parish writes, "and we rejoice in the holy rambunctiousness of children."
The regular Sunday schedule begins at 8:00 am with Holy Eucharist, Rite I, a quieter spoken liturgy in the Sanctuary. At 9:00 am, Bible Study gathers in the Chapel of the Nativity for an in-depth look at the upcoming Sunday readings. At 10:00 am, the Coventry Choir leads the Choral Eucharist, Rite II, with hymns, congregational singing, children's programming, and coffee. The 10:00 am service is livestreamed on YouTube. On Thursdays at 9:30 am a said Holy Eucharist is offered in the Chapel of the Nativity, followed by a coffee hour. On Wednesday evenings at 8:00 pm, Compline - the brief, candle-lit night prayer of the monastic tradition - is offered online via Zoom.
Grace follows the lectionary's three-year cycle of readings and "takes the Bible seriously but not literally." The parish affirms its faith through the creeds, the catechism, and the baptismal covenant of the Episcopal Church. Its Statement of Welcome explicitly affirms persons of every race, language, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, national origin, immigration status, and economic level, declaring that "discrimination is incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ." An Equity and Inclusion Policy was adopted in June 2020 to give that statement practical force.
The parish also formally acknowledges that its buildings and its predecessor congregations stand on land taken from the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other Tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. Grace has joined the wider Episcopal Diocese of Western Oregon in formally repudiating the fifteenth-century Doctrine of Discovery and has committed to pursue "reparation, reconciliation, and healing" in relationships with Indigenous neighbors.
Music and the Coventry Choir
Susan Jensen has built Grace Memorial's music program into one of the most distinctive in the diocese. The Coventry Choir sings at the 10:00 am Sunday service and rehearses weekly. The Choral Scholarship Program offers paid positions to young singers who join the choir for a season of study and performance. Recent Choral Scholars have performed solo and ensemble repertoire alongside the choir and have joined Grace for special liturgies.
Outside the Sunday routine, Grace's sanctuary is one of Portland's most attractive concert venues. The Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, of which Susan Jensen is a founding member, takes up residence at Grace for the Baroque by Candlelight series, presenting programs of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music on period instruments. The series has featured violinists, harpsichordists, and chamber ensembles in the candlelit Gothic nave. Past seasons have included programs ranging from Handel and Bach to Goldberg Variations and the "Viva la Armonica" concerts of harmonica virtuoso Joe Powers with his Latin-jazz ensemble.
Children, Youth, and the Catechumenate
Children are welcome at every service and the parish rejoices in the noise they make. The nursery is staffed for children from birth through kindergarten and is open from 9:00 to 11:30 am on Sundays in the Parish Hall Nursery downstairs. During the 10:00 am Eucharist, Church School meets at 10:00 am for children of elementary age during the Liturgy of the Word and rejoins the congregation for the celebration of the Eucharist. Grace uses the Illustrated Ministry's coloring pages and creative tools to follow the lectionary week by week, and crayons are available in the pews. A parish family retreat is held once a year.
The Catechumenate is the parish's program for adults preparing for baptism, confirmation, reception into the Episcopal Church, reaffirmation of faith, or simply a deeper connection with the worshiping community. The Rev. Martin Elfert invites anyone interested to write to him at the parish office. The program uses the same ancient framework of discernment and preparation that has shaped Christian initiation for centuries.
The Sunday Evening Community Dinner
The parish's signature outreach is the Community Dinner held every Sunday evening from 5:00 to 6:30 pm in the Parish Hall, with doors opening at 4:30 pm. "All are welcome: regardless of need, ability, or belief." The dinner has been a fixture of Grace's ministry for years and is supported by volunteer cooks, servers, and dishwashers drawn from the parish and the wider neighborhood. The Rev. Lara Halsey coordinates the program, and a SignUpGenius page gathers volunteers week by week.
Complementing the Sunday dinner is the weekday Sack Lunch Program, which distributes bag lunches from the breezeway every day of the work week. Members of the parish prepare the lunches, and volunteers with the Hope & Bread church, an Episcopal City Mission program serving houseless neighbors in Montavilla, also collaborate with the parish. Together, the two programs mean that Grace Memorial feeds hundreds of people each week regardless of their connection to the church.
A Companion Parish in Liberia
In addition to its local work, Grace Memorial maintains a companion-parish relationship with Trinity Cathedral and B. W. Harris Episcopal School in Monrovia, Liberia. The relationship has produced visible results, most recently a solar-paneled borehole well project that has transformed the daily lives of students and families at the school. Charles A. McGee II, a co-Senior Warden at Grace, visited Monrovia to see the completed project alongside Dean A-Too Williams of Trinity Cathedral.
The story of the well is told in detail by the Episcopal News Service, and Grace's website hosts the press release as part of its wider "Grace in Action" reporting. The project reflects a long-standing commitment at Grace to think of ministry in both local and global terms. The parish's companion-parish relationship is supported through prayer, fundraising, and occasional visits, and is one of the more visible examples of Episcopal cross-cultural collaboration in the Diocese of Western Oregon.
The St. Francis Sculpture and Other Art on the Campus
Art is everywhere on the Grace campus. The St. Francis sculpture in the courtyard, created by Portland artist Bettina Tysklind and installed in 1996, gives the parish an annual opportunity to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Every fall, parishioners and visitors bring dogs, cats, gerbils, rabbits, and favorite stuffed animals to the courtyard after the 10:00 am service for a blessing of the animals. Larry Gross, whose work is featured in the sanctuary, returned to the church for an artist talk in October 2024 in the parish's State of Grace series.
The annual Grace Gala, the Advent Lessons and Carols service, the parish retreat, the parish fair, the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, and other events round out the calendar. Grace Memorial is also a partner in the diocesan Choral Scholarship Program, which supports young musicians. Newcomers who want to experience the range of life at Grace are encouraged simply to drop in for a Sunday service and stay for coffee afterwards.
Music in the Sanctuary, Theatre in the Rector's Heart
Although the parish's senior pastor came to ordained ministry relatively late in his working life, he brought with him two decades of experience in the performing arts. Before seminary, Martin Elfert served as Technical Director of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in British Columbia. He continues to look for opportunities to integrate the lessons of theatre into Sunday morning, an unusual pedigree that has helped shape a worship program comfortable with music, drama, and visual art.
The result is a parish where the gospel is preached with one eye on the poetry of scripture and one eye on the practical work of justice and community. In his preaching, in his writing, and in the way he welcomes visitors - "I am daily grateful for the invitation to serve the Lord Jesus Christ here," he writes, "I can't wait to see where God is calling us next" - Elfert offers a model of ministry that takes both the beauty and the obligation of Christian life seriously.
Practicalities for First-Time Visitors
The church sits at 1535 NE 17th Avenue, between Northeast 16th and 17th Avenues. Limited parking is available in the church parking lot, which is entered from NE 16th Avenue on a first-come, first-served basis. The accessible entrance is on 17th Avenue, and street parking is available on surrounding blocks. TriMet bus lines 8, 17, 70, and 77 all stop nearby. The parish office can be reached at 503-287-0418 or by email at hello@grace-memorial.org.
Visitors who arrive a few minutes before 10:00 am on a Sunday will find a building full of activity: greeters at the door, a choir rehearsing, families with children, friends greeting one another, and the smell of coffee drifting from the Parish Hall. Whether they come dressed for a Sunday stroll or in their Sunday best, they will be welcomed as members of the community already. The prayer of the parish is simply this: that all who enter will find here healing, belonging, and meaning.