About Us
Who are we?
Grace Epiphany is a community of followers of Jesus Christ, welcoming all people who come to our doors as fellow pilgrims, without regard to race, gender, or sexual orientation. We strive to be an inclusive and diverse group of people. The congregation is both multi-cultural and multi-racial. We are also diverse in terms of family structures: families with mothers and fathers, families with same-sex parents, bi-racial couples, couples with adopted children of a different race, and single parents are among our active membership. Together we aspire to be a people of hope, justice, and love.
Grace Epiphany is a parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, part of the Episcopal Church and the world-wide Anglican Communion.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to open our hearts, minds and church to all people so that we all might come closer to God, and that we may be enriched by each other’s prayers and presence.
Hospitality
Newcomers report that they feel at home in the warm environment of Grace Epiphany Church. After the 10:30 service there is a coffee hour in Cline Auditorium (our parish hall) where parishioners take turn providing coffee and snacks, and people gather to welcome newcomers, catch up on news of friends, and build relationships and community. The two worship services are combined in one whenever there is a fifth Sunday. The single serviceis followed by a parish meeting where we discuss common concerns and issues such as those affecting Grace Epiphany, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
History
In 1857 a Sunday School was started on what is now Gowen Avenue. By 1859 Grace Church was built. After early struggles, the church flourished during the 1880s. By 1887 a larger church was needed, to be built on land donated by Franklin Gowen, for whom Gowen Avenue is named. The cornerstone was laid at the present location in 1888.
In 1898 a new mission began meeting in a home on Carpenter Lane. The cornerstone for their new Church, called Epiphany, was laid on Lincoln Drive in 1901. The building was added to in 1905 and in 1907. Epiphany was instrumental in helping to integrate the community in the 1950s, and African Americans became involved in the life of the parish. By the mid-1960s the parish was 50% black and 50% white. During that same period African American families also began joining Grace Church.
By 1991 the two congregations were worshipping together in Grace Church’s building, under the leadership of the priest from Epiphany, and the merger of the two congregations was completed by 1994. In June 1998, the Rev. James Taylor was called as the second rector of the merged church. Fr. Taylor resigned in 2005 to pursue another strong call to service in elementary school teaching. In the fall of 2007, the Rev. Thomas Eoyang, Jr. was called as third rector of Grace Epiphany, which continues as a vital, diverse congregation welcoming all people regardless of race, color, or sexual orientation.
Building
What is now Grace Epiphany Church was built on land donated by Franklin B. Gowen and Mrs. James E. Gowen, both members of the congregation. Franklin Gowen was president of the Reading Railroad. The vestry chose Charles Marquedant Burns, a Philadelphian specializing in church design and particularly the design of Protestant Episcopal churches. Among his other works in the area are the Church of the Advocate (1887) in North Philadelphia, and the rebuilding of the Saviour Protestant Episcopal Church (1902), which is now Philadelphia Cathedral, the seat of the bishop of Pennsylvania.
Burns’s plans for an “early English Gothic church,” were typical of the style favored during the Gothic Revival of the mid-nineteenth century in England and the United States. This style was based on the earliest phase of English Gothic architecture (c. 1180 to c. 1280). The later additions of the vestibule (the “North Porch”) and the rood screen followed the French Gothic style, bringing elements of verticality and delicacy to the solidity of the English-based features. Besides the hand-carved rood screen, other notable features include the 90-foot tower, the side chapel, and stained glass windows designed by Tiffany & Company in New York as well as by English and German studios.
Direction
Where are we?
Grace Epiphany Church is located at the corner of Gowen Avenue and Ardleigh Street, in Mount Airy (Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. We are easily accessible by public transportation, on the #23 (Germantown Avenue) SEPTA bus route, as well as the L and H routes. We are one block from Mt. Airy station on the R7 (Chestnut Hill East) SEPTA rail line.
To see a map showing our location, please click here.