History

On November 29, 1981, in Aldersgate Methodist Chapel, St. Luke Anglican Church celebrated its first Eucharist. The occasion was a joyous one for those seeking the spiritual sustenance of which, many felt, they had been deprived in their previous churches. St. Luke, appropriately named for the physician, in addition to being located in a city of a vast medical complex, would also provide the spiritual healing sought by its first parishioners. Among those present at that first service were Robert and Betty Stuntz, Tom, Sharon, and Kirk Weidman, Dorothy Wehn, Andrew and Monique Boyce, Marian McNair, Heard Robertson, Sarah Brown, Naomi Williams, Lane Allen, Jim Coombs, and a representative group from All Saints Anglican Catholic Church of Aiken, South Carolina. All Saints, who sponsored St. Luke as a mission, provided a priest-in-charge, the Rev. Dennis Washburn, along with gifts from charitable parishioners. St. Luke on that early November morning was on its way to become a full-fledged parish.

In 1982 St. Luke acquired, one block away from Aldersgate, property which was to become the site of the church. The Rev. Edward Keel, Jr., who had become the rector, held a monthly litany on this land which had once been a boathouse and carpentry shop.

Parishioners’ donations and two loans, one from a local bank and the other interest-free from All Saints, made the construction of the building possible. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in October, 1986; the first service in the new building followed on March 1, 1987. A local Lutheran church had given St. Luke an altar. Benches had been purchased from a courthouse and Richard Wescott, a talented church member, had converted them into pews, complete with hymnal racks.

On Saturday, October 17, 1987, the Rt. Rev. William O. Lewis, Bishop of the Diocese of the South, officially dedicated the church. It was a glorious day for those members of St. Luke who had worked so faithfully. The dream of a beautiful little church building had become a reality.