Born 23 November 1968, Grace died on 27 May 2023 in Maine (USA). In addition to serving on the WCC central committee, she served as a member of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, and as a minute-writer for meetings of the WCC central committee and executive committee.
She also served as a consultant on consensus decision-making, helping the WCC in the process toward adopting the ethos of consensus in use today for the conduct of all meetings.
In speaking to the WCC on the consensus process among the Society of Friends, she said: “It is rooted in our deepest theological affirmations, and is one of our highest spiritual experiences. Our bold affirmation is that God does indeed have a will for us, that God is actively trying to communicate that will, and that we are capable, through corporate prayer, to discover that will.”
In 1998, she was elected as a member of the WCC central committee. She was also active with the Massachusetts Council of Churches, with Friends United Meeting, and with several other organizations. She held a Masters of Divinity from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a certificate in International Mission and Ecumenism from the Boston Theological Institute.
Grace and her family served for several years with the Friends United Meeting, ministering in East Africa. They lived in Kisumu, Kenya, and were working with church leaders to establish an Africa Ministries Office of Friends United Meeting, to implement the programmes and priorities of the Friends United Meeting within the African constituency.
Grace sought to promote Christian faithfulness among the Society of Friends, and to work toward Christian unity and reconciliation for the sake of Christ’s mission in the world. As part of this ministry, Eden wrote and spoke to ecumenical groups.
She is survived by her husband, Jim, two sons, Isaiah and Jesse, her father Larry Parker and sister Wendy Parker.