Director of Young Adult Engagement

317-726-5416 | GPayne@SecondChurch.org

As the Director of Young Adult Engagement, Gracie ministers with those in the transitional seasons of college, early adulthood, and parenthood. She is particularly attentive to those who have not yet found belonging or welcome within the church. Gracie is passionate about encouraging disciples of Jesus as they live out the mission of God for the good of our city and the flourishing of our world.

Gracie’s childhood was largely shaped by her passion for ballet which now informs her understanding of the Christian faith as lived out through our bodies in the dance of community. She believes – as followers of a God who took on flesh, moved into the neighborhood, and spread out those arms on the cross to embrace the world – it is our joy and our responsibility to show up for one another, form deep relationships, and join Jesus Christ in healing the world.

Gracie is a graduate of Indiana University (B.A. Communications, English) and Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.). Gracie served as a Lake Fellow in Parish Ministry at Second, as the Director of Youth Ministries for a congregation in Carlisle, PA and the Student Pastor for a congregation in Dayton, NJ. She also apprenticed with 1001 New Worshiping Communities, interned at the Office of the General Assembly, completed Clinical Pastoral Education at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Gracie is married to Christian Payne; the couple met while working in Pennsylvania and married in 2017.

Gracie loves returning to the ballet studio, gardening, reading novels and poetry, writing as a spiritual practice, and going on walks with her husband, Christian, and dog, Xylo.

Book recommendations: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde), Strangers and Pilgrims Once More (Addison Hodges Hart), Being Human (Rowan Williams), Let the Bones Dance (Marcia W. Mount Shoop)