Christ Episcopal Church - Savannah, GA
N 32° 04.773 W 081° 05.458
17S E 491415 N 3549256
This Episcopal church was the first house of worship established with the founding of Georgia in 1733. This building was built in 1838. It is located at 28 Bull St. in Savannah, GA.
Waymark Code: WM4GQC
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2008
Views: 96
The historical marker across the street in the park
reads:
"Christ Church
The Mother Church of Georgia
This Episcopal church was the first house of worship established
with the founding of Georgia in 1733. Early rectors included the
Rev. John Wesley (1736-37), who began the earliest form of Sunday
school and published the first English hymnal in the colonies, and
the Rev. George Whitefield (1738-40), founder of Bethesda
Orphanage. The cornerstone for the first building on this site was
laid in 1744. James Hamilton Couper designed the current and third
structure in 1838. The 1819 Revere & Son bell continues in use
today. One of many prominent members was Juliette Gordon Low,
founder of the Girl Scouts of America."
From the Church's web
site:
Founded in 1733 with the establishment of the Georgia colony,
Christ Church has known different buildings and different rectors,
but it has always stood on one foundation, Jesus Christ her
Lord.
The present location of the church was designated by General
James Oglethorpe in his distinctive plan for the Savannah
settlement. On the east and west side of each square in this plan,
‘trust lots’ were set aside for public buildings. The colony’s
house of worship was assigned to an east trust lot on the first
square on Bull Street, the central street of historic Savannah,
then and now. Initially, the church had neither a building nor a
name. Divine services took place in the courthouse building of the
colony. Here the two most famous rectors of Christ Church parish
exercised their ministry.
John Wesley, the third rector of the parish, served from
1736-1737. Although he desired to be a missionary to the Indians,
Oglethorpe assigned him to serve in Savannah. In disagreement with
many in his congregation, Wesley believed in weekly Sunday
Communion and baptism by immersion. He taught a Sunday School
program for children (reputedly the first in America) and in 1737
published a Collection of Psalms and Hymns, the first English
hymnal in America. His famous conversion experience occurred after
his return to England, where he continued to serve as an Anglican
priest.
George Whitefield succeeded Wesley as priest responsible for the
church in Savannah, serving intermittently from 1738-1740. He
traveled extensively during this period, preaching with intensity
and length that often exceeded the conventions prescribed by the
Book of Common Prayer. His travels and preaching raised money for
the colony’s Orphan House, which he named Bethesda."