A Pentecost Birthday, a Heritage Sunday, and a Legacy Building
St. Paul's Church sits at 304 E. Camperdown Way in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, in a building that carries the story of two very different congregations under one roof. The story of how an Anglican parish came to occupy what had been a small Baptist church on the edge of the city is the story at the heart of St. Paul's, and the parish marks it every year on Heritage Sunday.
That story began in August 2011, when the founding rector and a handful of families moved from Pawleys Island to begin "Come and See" meetings in a Greenville living room. The group knew they wanted to plant a church but had never planted one before, so they spent months studying how the early church began. In December of that year, as the rector tells it, the Holy Spirit nudged him to visit a small downtown Baptist church where he met a fit, bright-eyed, eighty-two-year-old saint who said, "We've been praying for you." A kindred relationship grew between a small group of Baptists and a small group of Anglicans. On March 15, 2013, the Baptists transferred the deed of their property to the new church, and the congregation marked that day as Heritage Sunday, comparing it to the moment Joshua was told to mark the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land. On Pentecost Sunday in 2012 the parish had celebrated its founding, and by Pentecost 2014 the young church was marking its second birthday.
In 2022 the parish moved into its Legacy building, a new construction that gave the congregation room to grow while keeping its downtown footprint. The mission that has guided the church from those first living-room gatherings has not changed: to know Jesus and to make Him known.
Anglican in the Diocese of the Carolinas
St. Paul's is a parish of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and within that province to the Diocese of the Carolinas. The church sees itself as part of one of the largest Christian communions in the world, an Anglican family of some eighty-five million members spread across one hundred sixty-five countries, with roots in England but a history that now spans many nations, tribes, and languages.
The parish describes Anglican identity through what it calls "three streams, one river." The first stream is Scripture, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the authoritative guide in faith. The second is the Sacramental, the ancient practices and rhythms that give structure and formation, in particular the two sacraments ordained by Christ, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. The third is the Spirit, the peace and power that comes from God alone. All three feed the same river.
The parish professes the historic Christian faith as summarized in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, holds to the historic episcopate locally adapted to the needs of different peoples, and worships using the Book of Common Prayer as its rule of prayer and worship. The Thirty-Nine Articles are held as expressing fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
Sundays at Ten in the Legacy Building
Worship on Sunday morning is the rhythm around which the rest of the week turns. The congregation gathers at 10:00 AM for a blended service of about seventy-five minutes that includes both classic hymns and more contemporary music, readings from Scripture, a sermon, and Holy Communion celebrated every Sunday. The parish describes its worship as Spirit-filled, Scripture-focused, and liturgically rich in the Anglican tradition. All baptized Christians are invited to share in the communion.
The service draws on a deep bench of lay servants. Acolytes, including middle and high school students, carry the cross and light the candles. Readers, ushers, greeters, bell ringers, and lay Eucharistic ministers serve each week, and an Altar Guild prepares the table while a Posies ministry arranges the flowers. The worship is led by Deb and Tom Bellamy, who came to St. Paul's from a background in classical and commercial music and who together blend the old and the new.
What to Expect on Your First Visit
Greeters and ushers are stationed at the front doors and will answer any questions a first-time visitor might have. Parking is available in the large lower lot adjacent to the church, in the Greenville County School District parking lots across the street, and behind the School District building.
Children are welcomed and valued. A nursery is available for infants through age three and opens about fifteen minutes before the service. Children in K3 through fifth grade begin the service with their families in the pew and are then led downstairs after the opening songs for an age-appropriate lesson; they return at the peace to conclude worship with their families. All children, from nursery through fifth grade, must be checked in at the table outside the lower door before going to the nursery or to children's church.
Middle and high school students are encouraged to worship with their families on Sunday mornings and to gather for youth group on Sunday evenings during the school year. There is no Sunday School program at St. Paul's; the parish teaches and disciples through its midweek offerings and small groups instead.
Children, Students, and the Next Generation
Children's Ministry at St. Paul's aims to help children know Jesus as their Savior and to grow into bold witnesses. The nursery cares for the youngest worshipers, and the K3 through fifth grade program walks children through Scripture in age-appropriate lessons. Two sacraments of initiation are part of that work. First Communion is taught in a two- to three week class during the Sunday service for children whose families are members, and Baptism is offered as a public declaration of belief in Jesus Christ and a sign of new birth into his family.
The church also fields a Church Basketball league for children from K4 through twelfth grade, a community-touching program run by volunteers and parents.
Student Ministry, led by Lauren Grafe, is a place where students in middle and high school are encouraged, challenged, and discipled in the faith through relationships, service, study, prayer, and retreats. During the school year the youth group gathers on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in the Legacy Fellowship Hall for games, fellowship, teaching, and a provided dinner. On Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:00 PM, three small Bible studies meet in homes and at a local coffee shop: middle school girls, high school girls, and middle and high school boys. Students are also invited to serve as acolytes, carrying the cross and tending the candles during the Sunday liturgy.
Pastorates, Bible Studies, and Small Communities
St. Paul's does not run a Sunday School program, but its midweek offerings fill that space. The signature small-group experience is the Pastorate program. Pastorates are mid-sized communities that gather in homes on alternating weeks for six gatherings each in the spring and six each in the fall. Time together is built around fellowship, a shared meal, prayer, and a study that works through a book together. In a recent season the Pastorates worked through Dallas Willard's The Scandal of the Kingdom, walking through the parables of Jesus.
On Thursdays the parish runs two parallel studies. From 7:00 to 8:00 AM in the Legacy Fellowship Hall, men gather for a Bible study on 2 Corinthians. From noon to 1:00 PM in the same hall, women gather for a ten-week series on the Heart of Romans. Tuesdays bring Lectio Brotherhood for men on the first and third Tuesday evenings and Bible Seekers for women in the late morning. On the first Wednesday of each month, L.I.F.T., Ladies in Fellowship Together, hosts a noon luncheon for women facing ongoing health issues and for those who care for them.
A House of Prayer
Prayer is a defining mark of the parish, and the Prayer Ministry, coordinated by Deacon Cindy McCravy, offers several structured ways to pray. Prayer requests sent to the prayer chain are held in strict confidence and prayed over by a team behind the scenes. Prayers of the People lead the congregation in corporate intercession during Sunday services. Pre-service prayer teams gather before each service to call in the Holy Spirit over the space of worship and teaching.
Two ministries reach into particular moments of life. Waiting Expectantly assigns a three-person lay team to pray daily for expectant parents, families in the process of adoption, and those experiencing infertility, and the team often takes a meal after the child comes home. Cana Intercessors covers engaged couples through their wedding with prayer, drawing on the threefold cord of Ecclesiastes 4:12.
Two additional ministries, the Prayer Appointment Teams and the Healing Service, require more extended training. Appointments typically last about an hour with two or three intercessors, following the pattern of "Listen, Love, and Pray" in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Healing Service, clergy led and held in Heritage Chapel, offers individual prayer, soaking prayer, and the Eucharist. The parish also maintains a regular Service of Healing Prayer and Communion on Wednesdays at noon in Heritage Chapel.
Serving Greenville
The local outreach at St. Paul's reads like a cross-section of Greenville ministry. The parish birthed Harvest Anglican, a congregation in nearby Simpsonville now worshiping about one hundred people each week. It supports Miracle Hill Ministries, which has served upstate South Carolina for more than eighty-five years through rescue missions, addiction programs, foster homes, transitional housing, and food ministries; the parish helps in particular with graduations from the Overcomers Center for Men and the Renewal Center for Women.
Need to Nourish is the parish's own backpack program, packing bags of non-perishable food for thirty children at Robert E. Cashion Elementary School to sustain them over the weekend. The Walk Along at Serenity Village ministry walks alongside mothers in recovery, offering hope, encouragement, and prayer. Kairos Prison Ministry is supported through prayer, financial gifts, and teams of volunteers who bake cookies and lead weekends inside prisons.
Other partnerships include Servants for Sight, which brings preventive and restorative eye care to the community; Kings Classical School, a classical, biblically faithful school launched in the fall of 2025 by members of St. Paul's; Gateway of Greenville, a Clubhouse for adults with mental illness; the Meyer Center, which has served children with disabilities since 1954; Helping Hands Mentors at the Sterling Community Center; and Souper Bowl of Caring, the parish's annual soup lunch and offering on Super Bowl Sunday that has raised thousands of dollars for local ministries.
From Greenville to Rwanda and Beyond
The parish's global reach began with its Anglican identity. From the very beginning St. Paul's was planted under the jurisdiction of PEAR USA, the American branch of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, and the parish continues to walk with brothers and sisters in Africa through prayer and financial support of Transformational Ministries and its longtime leader, Bishop John Rucyahana. In November of 2025, ten members of St. Paul's traveled to Rwanda on a mission trip with TM.
Each Christmas season the parish packs shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse. The parish also supports Servants for Sight's eye-care mission.
Missionaries with ties to St. Paul's serve around the world. Zach and Noelle Slagel, with their four children, returned to Cambodia after years of service in Albania to work in pastoral ministry and spiritual formation for the Anglican Church. Kerry and Cynthia Buttram, who came out of St. Paul's own congregation, relocated to Cairo with the Anglican-Episcopal Diocese of Egypt at All Saints' Cathedral and SAMS, and in 2019 moved to the Netherlands to serve Christ Church Amsterdam. Closer to home, Travis Abercrombie leads Harvest Anglican in Simpsonville, and Mike and Ellen Myers plant The Gathering Church in Spartanburg, both supported by St. Paul's through the Diocese of the Carolinas.
St. Paul's School
St. Paul's School partners with families to nurture both academic growth and spiritual formation. The preschool is housed on the church campus and is directed by Grace Trail, who also leads the parish's Children's Ministry. Together the school and the Children's Ministry share a common mission: to help young children come to know Jesus and to grow in their love and understanding of Him.
The People Who Lead
The parish is led by the Reverend Doctor Jonathan M. Bailes, the second rector of St. Paul's, who returned to the upstate after more than two decades away. A native of Spartanburg, Bailes earned his Master of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School and his Ph.D. in theology at Boston College. He and his wife Rachael have four children.
The Reverend Clay A. Millener serves as Associate Rector. Millener grew up in Simpsonville, studied at Wake Forest, and worked for nine years with two international relief and development organizations in Connecticut before earning his M.Div. at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Carla, founders of Captivated International, are parents of two teenage sons.
The Reverend Cindy McCravy is a Deacon and Prayer Ministry Coordinator. A pediatric physical therapist by first vocation, she has been part of prayer ministry for nearly twenty years and was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church in North America. She and her husband Allen have three children.
The Reverend David M. Adams, Jr. is a Part-Time Pastoral Associate. A Greenville native, he trained at Nashotah House Seminary and served as a hospital chaplain with Roper St. Francis in Charleston before coming to St. Paul's. He also assists Harvest Anglican in Simpsonville, preaching and teaching there once a month.
Deb and Tom Bellamy lead the worship ministry together, drawing on a background in classical music and commercial music, physical therapy, and audio technology to bring a blend of old and new to the service. Lauren Grafe directs Student Ministry, and Grace Trail directs Children's Ministry and St. Paul's School. The parish is served by a vestry of nine men and women, with Murphy Armstrong serving as Senior Warden and Michael Spiers as Junior Warden.