About Us
Who We Are
Grace Lutheran Church is a warm, joyful, and inclusive congregation. Our diverse community includes folks of many different ages and backgrounds who come together to experience and share God’s unconditional love. Our Sunday worship feeds us for lives of love and service throughout each week. Our various ministries help us to grow in Christian community and to work for the good of our neighbors near and far.
Our Welcome Statement
Grace Lutheran Church is an open and affirming congregation. We welcome and celebrate people of all races, cultures, ages, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientations, abilities, and economic status into our ministry. We are committed to pursuing racial equity and social, economic, and environmental justice. We believe that we are called to love one another as God loves us. You are a unique and beloved child of God, and wherever you are on your journey of faith, we welcome, love, and accept you just as you are.
Staff & Leadership
-
![]()
The Rev. Abby Ferjak, Pastor
Pastor Abby is originally from Forest City, Iowa, the hometown of the Winnebago RV. She has lived throughout the United States including such exotic locations as Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA, St. Louis, MO, and, most recently, New York, NY. She completed her undergraduate studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN and graduated with a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. Before coming to Grace Lutheran, Pastor Abby served as a hospital chaplain.
Pastor Abby enjoys baking, reading about historic natural disasters, and going on adventures with her wife, Becca (also a Lutheran pastor), son, Harry, and daughter, Molly.
-
![]()
Colin Rose, Music Director
Colin has had music running through his veins his entire life. His parents remember him reaching out and plunking out a melody on his mother’s old digital keyboard when he was barely tall enough to reach the keys, and his relationship with music has only grown from there.
Colin, a graduate of Hartt School of Music (Piano Performance major/Music History minor), has worked at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase since 2014. As a staff accompanist, he provides live piano music for ballet and modern dance classes. He also serves as the Dance Building Manager, a role in which he oversees daily operations and maintenance of the conservatory’s unique facility. Colin works extensively as a freelance/gigging musician, sharing his craft with private and public audiences across Westchester, the Hudson Valley, and Connecticut.
When he is not behind a keyboard, Colin is likely to be found at his lake home in Putnam County, paddling a kayak in the water or hiking.
-
![]()
Gigi Aronoff, Creative Playtime Director
Gigi has been at Creative Playtime for 15 happy years. Gigi studied early childhood education at Lehman College and holds a Masters in Professional Studies with a specialization in Special Education from Manhattanville College.
Gigi has worked in various educational settings, such as Montessori and special education, and has directed many childcare programs including one for children experiencing homelessness.
Gigi lives in White Plains with her husband, David. Gigi has a wonderful family, which she is very proud of: Sara, Jonah, Sal, Franny, Sam, Maddy, Emily, James, and Courtney. When Gigi’s not at CP or babysitting Sal & Franny, she likes running, hiking, cooking, gardening, and traveling.
-
![]()
Cheryl Wesley, Administrative Assistant
Cheryl is officially retired after 12 years as a caseworker with Westchester County Social Services and 26 years as an administrator at Children's Village.
At Children’s Village she met our Creative Playtime Director, Gigi. Being a part-time Administrative Assistant for Grace Church and Creative Playtime has turned out to be a perfect fit for her in retirement!
What We Teach
Grace is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You definitely don’t have to identify as Lutheran to be part of the Grace community, but our worship, preaching, and teaching are rooted in the Lutheran Christian tradition, so you may want to learn more.
What is Lutheranism anyway?
Lutheranism is one tradition within the wider Christian Church. Lutheran Christians share a lot in common with other Christians, including belief in the Holy Trinity, the salvific love of Jesus, and the Holy Scriptures as the written Word of God. Following in the tradition of Martin Luther in the 16 th century, Lutherans place particular emphasis on God’s unearned grace. In other words, Lutherans teach that God loves you and me and all people unconditionally and forgives us graciously, not because of anything we do or believe but because God is love and we are God’s.
We don’t have to be perfect people (we’re not!), or do something heroic, or pray a particular prayer, or never have any doubts to earn God’s love – it’s totally free. We no longer have to worry if we are good enough, so we can focus instead on doing good for others. This amazing gift of love and mercy that we experience through Jesus inspires us to share that same love with our neighbors and the whole world, including those we might think of as strangers or enemies. In Jesus, we are called to move beyond preoccupation with ourselves and into relationship with God and others. Through grace, Jesus sets us free to serve our neighbors and to work for a more just world.
Each week, Lutheran Christians around the world gather in community to hear the Word of God and to encounter God’s grace in Holy Communion, and then are sent out to love and serve others. Lutherans believe that all people are called to do God’s work in the church and the world in a variety of ways. Lutheran pastors, deacons, and lay leaders are a diverse group that includes women and LGBTQIA+ folks. Lutherans know we don’t have all the answers and value the perspectives of other people of faith. We work closely with our siblings in other Christian denominations and religious traditions.
History
In 1949, a community of 18 people gathered together to build what would become Grace Lutheran Church in Northern Eastchester as an expression of their faith in God, in themselves, and in their community, and of hope in what God would build through them.
It was that faith that would shape the course of the next few years as the community would gather to meet in fellowship and in study wherever God made room for them. It would be another 3 years before the first sanctuary on Alida Street was completed, and another 15 years before the sanctuary on Grand Boulevard would be finished. In 1981, the people of Grace Lutheran answered God’s call yet again by founding a neighborhood preschool to foster the development of children of all faiths in a caring and nurturing environment. Creative Playtime continues to serve the needs of families for safe, affordable, and engaging preschool education in the Eastchester and Scarsdale communities. The church building may have been finished in 1964, but its legacy is not in its stained glass windows, school classrooms, or brick and stucco façade, but in its people who, after more than 75 years, still come together as those 18 people did then to celebrate our faith, our families, and our community. Please join us and see how you can help make Grace Lutheran Church’s next 75 years as memorable as its past 75 years.
Contact Us
Grace Lutheran Church is located at 59 Grand Boulevard in northern Eastchester, at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Alida Street. We have a parking lot and are located a short walk from the Scarsdale Metro North station.
Office: (914) 472-4252