A Liturgical Parish on Hillandale Road
St. Luke's Episcopal Church sits on Hillandale Road on the west side of Durham, North Carolina, a few miles from the heart of downtown and within easy reach of Duke University and the Research Triangle. It is a parish of The Episcopal Church, a member of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and a congregation that takes its Anglican identity seriously without standing still. The mission statement reads, "Nurtured in Jesus, we welcome radically, serve gratefully, and love abundantly," and the welcome that phrase describes is the first thing visitors encounter when they walk through the front doors on a Sunday morning.
What the parish is known for locally is the way it holds three things together: deeply rooted Episcopal liturgy, a serious music program built around a 1990 Moller pipe organ, and an unusually wide reach of outward ministry. From its nave it streams a 10:30 service on YouTube each week. From its campus on the other side of the breezeway, a children's chapel and a Godly Play classroom gather the youngest members of the parish. And from its outreach ministries, the parish sends teams into prisons, across the Caribbean to Belize, and out into the city of Durham through a rotating roster of nonprofit partnerships.
The Sunday Rhythm: Two Eucharists, One Stream
Worship at St. Luke's centers on the Holy Eucharist, celebrated twice each Sunday morning. At 8:00 a.m., the parish gathers for a said service with no music. At 10:30 a.m., the principal service returns with choral music, congregational singing, and a full liturgical setting; this second service is the one that is livestreamed to the parish's YouTube channel, St. Luke's Durham Worship and Music, with recordings kept there afterward. The 10:30 bulletin is available online for those worshipping from home.
Between the two services, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the parish hosts an Adult Forum in Johnson Hall. Recent offerings have ranged from a two-week study of the Book of Jonah to a confirmation and reaffirmation series, a multiweek reading of Richard Rohr's "Falling Upward" led by the rector, and a five-part "Growing in Cultural Competency" series on Latino ministry in the Episcopal Church delivered by the Diocese of North Carolina's missioner for Hispanic ministries.
Children's programming is built around the 10:30 liturgy. At 10:15 a.m., children gather in Children's Chapel for a Godly Play session, a Montessori-based approach to Christian formation that uses sacred stories and wondering to invite children into the life of faith. They rejoin their families in the nave in time for communion. Nursery care for infants through age four runs from 9:00 to 11:45 in the nursery inside Johnson Hall, across the breezeway from the church. "Miss Carol" Joyner, the parish's longtime Director of Hospitality and Nursery Attendant, has welcomed generations of St. Luke's youngest members and young visitors in that room.
A Nave Built for Choral Music
The worship space at St. Luke's is a single nave of roughly 8,000 square feet, with flexible seating for about 300 people. In 2015, the parish launched a Worship Enhancement Project guided by Riedel & Associates of Milwaukee. The team removed the carpet, replaced the ceiling with a rigid sound-reflective surface, treated the interior brick walls, and built a new organ chamber. Out of that work came the acquisition of a 1990 Moller pipe organ originally installed in Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida. The instrument was rebuilt by organ builder P. J. Swartz of Eatonton, Georgia, and rededicated in October 2017 with Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple presiding and organist David Arcus as the featured performer.
The Moller is a three-manual organ with 34 ranks distributed across Great, Swell, Positiv, and Pedal divisions. The Swell and Positiv each carry their own enclosed Festival Trumpet, with multiple couplers linking the manuals together and a Peterson 32-level combination action controlling the stops. On St. Luke's Day 2017, the parish committed the organ and the renovated acoustics to a wider musical ministry. The adult choir rehearses Wednesday evenings and on Sunday mornings between September and May, opening the season each year with a retreat in August, with anthems drawn from many centuries of church music. The St. Luke's Handbell Choir rings periodically using a two-octave set of Schulmerich bells and a one-octave set of Malmark choir chimes.
The Clergy and the Parish Team
The rector is the Rev. Greg Farrand. Ordained an Episcopal priest in 2016 and a Presbyterian minister in 2002, Farrand previously served as associate rector at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro, where he led youth, young adult, and adult pilgrimage ministries before founding the Second Breath Center as a stand-alone nonprofit. At St. Luke's he teaches regularly, hosts Adult Forum series, and produces a podcast of his own, "The Unintentional Heretic," launched in May 2026 and available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
The deacon is Monnie Riggin, ordained in 2018, with prior service at St. Andrew's, Haw River and St. Joseph's in Durham. In addition to her liturgical role, she leads the parish's anti-racism work and pastoral care team, and she founded the Faith Teams ex-offender reentry program that is now a flagship of the parish's outreach. Chris Redmon, a transitional deacon newly ordained in 2025, serves as Deacon in Residence while completing a residential CPE (chaplaincy) program, mentored by Deacon Riggin and slated for ordination to the priesthood. Chris Reed, a lawyer, is the parish intern through December, exploring a call to ordained ministry.
Two lay staff members round out the team. Kaye Saunders, who also serves as Parish Coordinator, is a published composer and church musician with a Master of Sacred Music from the Graduate Theological Foundation. Dr. David Arcus, who became the parish's Music Director in 2025, has performed and taught across North Carolina, including appointments at Duke University, East Carolina University, UNC-Chapel Hill, St. Matthew's in Hillsborough, St. Paul's in Greenville, and Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. Carol Joyner, who organizes both of the parish's Sunday coffee hours, anchors the nursery and hospitality work that greets every visitor.
How Worship Works for a First-Time Visitor
Anyone new to Episcopal liturgy will find a familiar shape. The service begins with a hymn and a procession. Ushers hand out a printed bulletin, with large-print bulletins and large-print hymn sheets available on request. The Liturgy of the Word pairs assigned readings with the day's psalm, followed by a sermon. The congregation affirms its faith, shares prayers of the people, passes the peace, and then collects an offertory before moving into the Eucharistic Prayer. Communion is open to all baptized Christians from any denomination. Gluten-free bread is available from the priest or lay minister.
Those worshipping with children can sit where they like. Both adult and child bulletins are stocked at the entrance. Rocking chairs and chairs with arms are available by request. After the service, two coffee hours run downstairs and on the patio, hosted by Carol Joyner and a rotating team, and newcomers can leave contact information on the cards in the pew racks or by filling out an online form.
St. Luke's welcome is explicit about who is invited. The parish states that it welcomes "individuals of every race, nationality, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, and economic circumstance" and lists itself among the affirming congregations at gaychurch.org. That posture shapes everything from the marriage rite to the way the nursery is staffed.
Pastoral and Worship Ministries
The day-to-day care of the church is carried by a deep bench of lay volunteers. The Altar Guild prepares the nave for every service. Lay Worship Readers carry the lections; Intercessors lead the Prayers of the People; Lay Eucharistic Leaders and Lay Eucharistic Visitors distribute the sacrament and take it to those who cannot attend in person. A Healing Ministry offers the laying on of hands at each Sunday Eucharist, and the Pastoral Care Team offers confidential listening for any St. Luker in need.
Pastoral care extends outward in practical ways as well. The Meal Train organizes food for parishioners coming home from the hospital, receiving difficult news, or welcoming a new child. The Transportation Ministry provides rides to medical appointments for those without easy access to a car. The St. Luke's Stitchers meet on the third Wednesday of every month in the Kramer Room, knitting chemo caps for Duke's Blood Cancer Center, comfort shawls for parishioners, and hats and scarves distributed in the wider Durham community.
For fellowship and formation outside of Sunday morning, the parish hosts monthly Supper Groups that move from restaurant to restaurant around Durham, a Ladies' Lunch Bunch that meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 11:30 a.m. around the city, and a Men's Fellowship that gathers on the third Tuesday from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Kramer Room for unstructured conversation. Garden workdays keep the campus planted and pruned, and the parish directory is now hosted fully online.
Outreach: Faith Teams, Belize, and the Pumpkin Patch
St. Luke's outward ministries fall into two streams. The first is local. The Faith Teams program, founded by Deacon Riggin, partners teams of parishioners with individuals recently released from prison for a year of accompaniment as they reenter the community. The work happens under the umbrella of the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, which has expanded faith-team work across the city's congregations. The second stream is international. Since 2000 the parish has maintained a mission relationship with Holy Cross Anglican School on Ambergris Caye in Belize, sending teams of adults and youth to build and serve, and providing ongoing support so that Holy Cross graduates can continue into high school and beyond. A long-running partnership has carried several graduates, including Isolene and Leticia, through secondary education.
The parish also raises substantial money locally through three signature events. The annual Pumpkin Patch transforms the parking lot into a sales ground for pumpkins grown by the Navajo Nation in Farmington, New Mexico, with proceeds supporting both the parish and a small-grants program that funds Durham-area nonprofits. The Spring Fling is a yard and plant sale that funnels funds into the same grant pool. In early November a Pre-owned Holiday Decorations Sale rounds out the calendar, and Share Your Christmas gives parishioners a way to support families in need, families staying at Ronald McDonald House, LEAP families, and the Animal Protection Society of Durham.
Past grant recipients include the Durham Literacy Center, Note in the Pocket, the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, Senior PharmAssist, and Urban Ministries of Durham.
The Labyrinth and the Cycle of the Year
A 5-circuit medieval labyrinth sits in the playground area beside the Gray Building, shaded by the trees that give the campus its green setting. Built in 2013 as an Eagle Scout project, it is open to walk Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. until dusk, and from dawn to dusk on weekends. The labyrinth is part of a prayer ministry at the parish, anchored by seasonal group walks (the fall walk in October being a long-standing tradition), and used by individuals looking for a contemplative practice. Around the perimeter of the nave, fourteen ceramic Stations of the Cross, designed and made by the late Warren Acheson, a member of St. Luke's, are walked together at the "Women of the Cross" service on Good Friday at 6:00 p.m.
The Arts at St. Luke's series opens the building beyond its Sunday morning role. Sunday afternoon concerts, generally at 4:00 p.m., have featured the Durham Savoyards, the parish's own David Arcus in recital, the cartoonist-priest Jay Sidebotham, and singer and writer Elizabeth June. All are free, with donations accepted toward the Music and Arts Fund. The Moller organ and the acoustically renovated nave make St. Luke's a natural venue for an Evensong or a chamber recital. St. Cecilia Choir, an affiliated children's choir based on the Royal School of Church Music's Voice for Life curriculum, is currently rebuilding and welcomes children in third grade and up.
Children and Teens
Sunday morning is the center of the parish's formation work for young people. After gathering in Children's Chapel at 10:15 a.m., children in ages three through fifth grade move into a Godly Play classroom, where trained storytellers present the sacred story of the week and invite the children into wondering. The nursery in Johnson Hall, staffed by Carol Joyner and a team of attendants, takes care of infants through age four from 9:00 to 11:45 a.m. Baptized children may receive communion at the discretion of their parents, and St. Luke's holds a Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation class when the Bishop visits. Parents and caregivers are also pointed to a library of resources on the parish site, including curated pages on talking with children about race and an LGBTQ-affirming list of support lines.
Adult Formation
In addition to the Sunday Adult Forum, the parish hosts Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year distance-learning curriculum developed by the School of Theology at the University of the South. EfM groups meet weekly for theological reflection and study. Smaller reading groups gather around books of the season, and the rector has built out a longer study of Richard Rohr, alongside guest series from diocesan leaders. The 2023 parish-wide RenewalWorks spiritual inventory, a program for Episcopal congregations, gave the vestry and members a structured reading of the parish's spiritual life and shaped several of the formation offerings now in place.
The Anglican and Episcopal Lens
St. Luke's identifies as a parish of the Episcopal Church, the American expression of the Anglican Communion, and part of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Worship follows the historic two-part shape of the Book of Common Prayer: a Liturgy of the Word and a Liturgy of the Eucharist. Most Sundays use Rite II; Rite I returns in the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent. The parish is comfortable describing itself both as a bridge tradition and as a place that takes the historic creeds and the three-fold order of ministry (deacons, priests, and bishops) seriously. The Diocese gathers congregations across North Carolina; St. Luke's sits within easy reach of diocesan programming, an annual Chrismon workshop, EfM gatherings, and the Bishop's visit.
Campus, Stewardship, and Sustainability
The campus today includes three buildings. The Sanctuary was dedicated on St. Luke's Day 1971, fifteen years after the parish was chartered in February 1956. Johnson Hall, finished in 1982 and renamed in 1994 for Bob and Connie Johnson, houses the parish offices, the nursery, a large meeting space, classrooms, and the Kramer Room used by many of the small groups. The Gray Building, originally a school building that once housed the St. Luke's Preschool and Kindergarten (which closed in 2011), was renamed in 2011 in honor of Beth Gray for her work with children and now holds formation space.
A solar array installed in early 2022 on the south roof of Johnson Hall and above the Sprague Room has reduced the parish's grid dependence by 65 percent and is projected to deliver $7,700 in annual savings over its 25-year life. Parishioners helped fund it, including gifts in memory of Jim Hooker, the founding chair of the St. Luke's Green Team that first proposed the project in 2012. Annual stewardship, the Every Member Canvass, runs each fall and supports the operating budget. Memorial gifts fund vestments, altar hangings, instruments, and formation materials, and the parish also maintains the St. Luke's Legacy Circle for planned estate commitments.
Getting Connected
Visitors are encouraged to arrive a few minutes before the 10:30 service to find a parking spot (the lot behind the buildings has spaces marked for guests) and to be met at the entrance by a host or an usher. Bulletins, large-print bulletins, and children's bulletins are provided at the door. Worship at the 8:00 a.m. service is a quieter entry point; the children's program and the livestream both center on the 10:30 gathering. The church publishes a weekly email with announcements and calendar items, a monthly newsletter called Acts of Faith, and a parish calendar hosted through Church Planning Center. Those interested in joining the life of the church are pointed first to the rector, the deacon, or the parish coordinator, all reachable at the church office on Hillandale Road.