CHRIST CHURCH, OF MT. PLEASANT, PREPARES FOR RETURN TO ANCESTRAL CHURCH
The present occupants of Christ Church, of Mt. Pleasant SC, are preparing to vacate the premises under the court-ordered restoration of the property to the Episcopal Church. Christ Church was one of the eight parishes the South Carolina Supreme Court declared to be property of the Episcopal Church and its diocese. This will be the third of the eight to make the transfer.
On Saturday, August 27th, at 9:00 a.m. there will be a blessing of the property called a "Campus Prayer Walk." The announcement reads: "The Prayer Team, Vestry, and Contingency committee invites you to join us for a prayer walk amongst our worship spaces and the cemetery as we bless the grounds, pray for our parish and its people, and also those who will come after us in these spaces. All welcome."
On Sunday, August 28, at 10:00 a.m. there will be a final service of the present occupants: "A Service of Thanksgiving, Lament, and New Life." This will be followed by a bar-b-que lunch provided by Church of the Cross.
At some undesignated time afterwards, the occupants will turn over the keys to the Episcopal diocese.
On the next Sunday, September 4, there will be no service.
Sunday, September 11, at 10:00, the clergy of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina will lead an assembly of their followers to start a new congregation called "Christ Church Anglican." It is set to meet in Jennie Moore Elementary School, of Mt. Pleasant.
On that day, the group will be joined by the bishop who presided over the 2012 secession from the Episcopal Church, Mark Lawrence. He will speak to the "Adult Discipleship" group on "Hearing God's Voice: the ABCs of Spiritual Discernment." Lawrence also showed up at the first service of the departed "Anglican" congregation in Cheraw.
I wonder if anyone in the old Christ Church group will remind Lawrence that they (and all the others of the eight now in transition) would still be in their old properties if the diocesan leadership had accepted the Episcopal Church offer of June 2015 when the Church proposed to surrender claim to all of the local parishes in return for the entity of the old diocese. As bishop, Lawrence was the ultimate authority of the Anglican diocese at that time. (The Anglicans' excuse that this was not a sincere offer was not true. In fact, both the presiding bishop and the national church attorney had signed off on the offer.)
Find more of Christ Church's transition HERE.
The Episcopal diocese has announced that the Rev. Furman Buchanan will lead the restoration of the Episcopal Church in Christ Church parish. More about this will be forthcoming from the diocesan office. Find the diocesan press release about this HERE.
