The Acolyte ministry at Grace in the Desert Episcopal Church includes parishioners of all ages who serve at the Altar and assist the clergy. Acolytes participate in the services by leading the procession and recession carrying crosses, torches and banners; assisting with the preparation and clearing of the Altar and during the administration of communion; and sometimes holding the gospel book for the Deacon.

Our Acolytes also serve at special services, such as weddings, baptisms, ordinations and funerals. As you can see, Acolytes are servants in the true sense of the word, both in practice and as symbols. For more information about becoming an Acolyte, please contact Ellen Stevens .

The Altar Guild team is comprised of up to a dozen dedicated volunteers who prepare the altar all services at Grace. Weekly teams set up and or reset the altar or chapel for baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations and special services. Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Advent and Christmas are are the most challenging times for our team.

Our teams enjoy this altar ministry; we meet with our clergy occasionally to review the upcoming services and plan our schedules. If you are interested in finding out more about the Altar Guild contact:Margie Turner .

Lectors are assigned in one-month segments using the Ministry Scheduler Pro App administered by Scheduler. Lectors are most often lay readers who have had lector training. Lectors read from the Liturgy of the word for the week and receive their readings in advance so that they have an opportunity to rehearse the readings prior to services. Readings come from the Old Testament, New Testament and the Psalms appointed for the week.

Servers are trained by the Acolyte organizers and Clergy. If you are interested in these ministries contact a member of Clergy.

The Ushers and Greeters ministry are the first to welcome members and newcomers to of our services. They encourage members to wear their name tags which are located on the left wall of the Narthex.

Ushers and Greeters are interchangeable. Uusually there are two Ushers and two Greeters at each service; they are cross-trained to handle any of the following tasks:

• Meet and greet our members and newcomers
• Hand out bulletins
• Be aware of possible newcomers. Make sure that they can locate the hymnals and prayer books, fill out a welcome card and have them placed in the collection plates; and receive the Red Bag welcome packet (returning August 15, 2023 )
• Make sure that families with infants and young toddlers are aware of the children’s area.
• Pass the collection plates
• Bring the goodwill offerings to the altar
• Guide parishioners to the appropriate location to receive communion.
• Clergy, or the Senor or Junior Warden welcomes Newcomers from the pulpit and ask them to identify themselves and where they live.