History

Grace Church began as a mission church that met in the Cole County Courthouse starting in 1836. A handful of Episcopalians founded the parish as “Grace Church” in 1840, and they contracted to build its first structure in 1842.

Through the rest of the nineteenth century, Grace Church was a waxing and waning presence in Jefferson City. Records are scant during two periods of particular stress on the parish: from 1849 to 1851 during the great cholera epidemic, and again during the Civil War. During both periods the church building served as a hospital. But the Civil War in particular severely affected the fortunes of the church, as many of the prominent members during the antebellum period were transplanted Virginians who were slaveholders and Southern sympathizers. Many fled the capital city during the war.

However, after the war the congregation pulled itself together and embarked upon a period of growth that eventually necessitated a larger house of worship. Plans were made in the 1890s for the new church building. The new cornerstone was laid in 1898 and the present structure was completed in 1901.

During the twentieth century Grace church underwent two significant periods of growth. The first was in the 1930s, when the congregation grew from 39 communicants to 150 and the budget quadrupled as well under the leadership of Reverend Wilbur Ruggles. The second was after World War II, when the Reverend Ned Cole led the parish. Throughout the 1950s the congregation grew in size and in spirit as it assumed a leadership role in the movement toward racial integration in Mid-Missouri. 

Reverend Cole discovered shortly after he came to Grace in 1949 that the parish rolls listed a number of faculty members at Lincoln University, but that they had been asked when they first attended Grace to sit at the back of the church and take communion last. Appalled by this revelation, Reverend Cole told one of the vestrymen (a former speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives) that he was not sure he could stay as Rector if that policy stood. The next week, at a vestry meeting, Grace Church changed the policy and began its journey to becoming a leader in the civil rights movement in Mid-Missouri throughout the 1950s and 1960s. A later rector, the Reverend Arnold Mintz, was the president of the Ministerial Alliance in 1960 when he and other leading citizens successfully pressed for desegregation of the restaurants in Jefferson City.

The growth in spirit was accompanied by a growth in membership, and in 1963 the need for more space was pressing enough that plans were made to expand the existing church. The new parish hall was completed and dedicated in 1966.

In 1970, Grace called the Reverend Harvel Sanders to be the new rector. Through new prayer books and hymnals, church controversies great and small, he presided over a congregation that grew and adapted to the times in a remarkably cohesive and congenial manner. Certainly, the congregation has changed over the years. Harv retired in 2004 and Grace used an intentional two-year interim period to reflect on our past, our present, and our hopeful future. At the end of that time, Grace called The Reverend Shariya Molegoda to serve as our rector. In 2018, the Vestry called the Rev. Ian Lasch to be our rector. In 2020, the Vestry called Rev. Bill Nesbit to be our Priest-in-Charge, and in 2022 elevated him to Rector.  Rev. Bill Nesbit retired in 2025.  The congregation boasts a significant number of Sierra Leoneans who have made Grace their church home. 

TODAY, Grace Church is still a vital church with a rich parish life. Perhaps it is our history of being an integrated parish before others were or our existence in a political town, but we have a history of appreciating our differences and working through disagreement. We know that God is not male or female, bond or free, black or white, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. God is God, and we are committed to worshiping God in a way that is both inclusive and consistent with scripture. We look forward to strengthening that commitment and our spirit of service to God's kingdom in the years to come.

Written by Karen Winn, edited by Julie Harker