A Wilton Congregation Since 1802
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church stands on New Canaan Road in Wilton, Connecticut, near the town's borders with Norwalk and New Canaan. The parish traces its origins to June 21, 1802, when fifty-five families and six unmarried individuals, most of them already members of St. Paul's in Norwalk, posted a notice organizing an Episcopal Society in Wilton. Within a few years the Society had built a stone church on Route 7, and on August 18, 1819, Bishop John Hobart of New York and Connecticut consecrated it as St. Matthew's. By the 1960s the original building could no longer hold the congregation, and the parish joined with a young Presbyterian fellowship in one of the more unusual arrangements in American congregational life, a partnership that has shaped St. Matthew's identity for more than half a century.
The WEPCO Partnership
The Wilton Episcopal Presbyterian Corporation, known as WEPCO, was formed in 1971 under the leadership of the then-rector, the Rev. Roger O. Douglas. The two congregations built separate sanctuaries on a shared ten-acre campus and placed everything else, including classrooms, a kitchen, Parish Hall, offices, meeting rooms, and grounds, in common ownership managed by a WEPCO Board of Directors with equal numbers of Episcopalians and Presbyterians.
The arrangement goes well beyond real estate. The two churches hold periodic joint worship services, share community events, and run Church School together for children in kindergarten through seventh grade, so Episcopal and Presbyterian children learn and play side by side on Sunday mornings. The parish sees the relationship as requiring commitment, compromise, and patience, and as one that strengthens both congregations. The WEPCO complex is also available for outside rentals through the WEPCO Director, Donna Savage, who coordinates bookings with the parish sextons, Alix Williams and Jairo Mejia.
Sunday Worship at Ten
Worship is the heart of St. Matthew's life. The single Sunday service gathers at 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary for Holy Eucharist Rite II, drawn from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. The liturgy includes Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, and Gospel readings, a sermon, prayers, congregational and choral singing supported by organ and occasional instrumental accompaniment, and a celebration of Holy Communion. All baptized Christians of any age are welcome at the altar, and a gluten-free option is available.
Church School and Nursery Care are offered at 10:00 a.m. for children through seventh grade, and children return to worship with their families at the Peace. Children of all ages are welcome to remain in the pew throughout the service. There is a soft space at the back of the sanctuary with a pew, a floor mat, quiet toys, puzzles, and picture books for little ones who need to move; the Narthex, or foyer, holds worship bags with quiet activities, a children's bulletin, crayons, colored pencils, and a picture-book rack. There is no dress code.
Visitors are greeted at the door of the Narthex with a service bulletin that contains everything they need to follow along. Ushers can guide families to the Nursery (for children three and younger) or Church School (PreK through seventh grade), and the congregation is not asked to stand to be recognized. Following worship, the parish gathers in the Narthex for a coffee hour with comfortable seating, a guest book, and time to speak with clergy and members. For those who cannot be present, services are livestreamed at 10:00 a.m. on the parish's Facebook Page and YouTube channel, and recordings of recent sermons are kept online.
An Organ Built for the Room
Music is foundational to St. Matthew's, and the parish's most striking instrument grew out of a major renovation in 2009. The Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas, designed a new pipe organ in conjunction with the rebuilt acoustic and visual properties of the sanctuary, and the instrument was inaugurated in worship on January 31, 2010, with organist Ken Cowan giving its concert debut the following March. The organ was a gift of the Brock family in memory of Anise McDaniel Brock, a beloved organist and music teacher, and was featured in the September 2010 edition of The American Organist.
From September through June the parish choir sings at virtually every Sunday service and on major holy days. The choir draws on high schoolers, longtime volunteer adults (many of whom have sung in St. Matthew's choirs since childhood), and four professional section leaders. Rehearsals take place on Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. All choirs are free and open to anyone, regardless of musical experience or faith background. In summer, worship is supported by hymns and solo music.
Beyond Sunday worship, The Arts at St. Matthew's (AASM) is a community concert series held in the sanctuary and operated independently from the church's budget through donations and ticket sales. Recent seasons have featured a Brazilian jazz trio, organ recitals, joint choir concerts, a children's "build a pipe organ" event, a Dream Workshop, and staged readings of plays.
Children, Youth, and the Church School
Children are full members of the body at St. Matthew's by virtue of their baptism, and the parish takes seriously its call to be a safe and welcoming place for them. All adults who work with young people and all who serve on the Pastoral Care team are trained in Safe Church practices through The Episcopal Church in Connecticut.
Church School gathers children from kindergarten through seventh grade at 10:00 a.m. from September through early June, alongside their friends from Wilton Presbyterian. On the first Sunday of the month the children worship with their families instead. Volunteer teachers engage them with Bible stories, prayer, crafts, and games, and service projects thread through the year, from letters and Valentine-making to creating gifts for others.
The Nursery is available every Sunday of the year for children from infancy through age four, under the care of a Safe Church-trained paid supervisor. Help is always welcome; volunteers must be in high school or older, and no experience is required beyond a willingness to play.
Youth in grades eight through twelve meet on the first Sunday of the month in the Upper Core and on the fourth Sunday in the Alcove, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., for fellowship and community building. They are also invited to serve as lectors, ushers, and acolytes (from grade four and up), and the parish has a long history of youth-led service, including a dedicated youth team for the annual Rise Against Hunger meal-packaging event.
Adults in Formation
St. Matthew's offers a wide range of ways for adults to grow in faith. Spirited Sisters is a women's community of faith, open to friends as well as parishioners, that meets monthly from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. to explore Christian ideals through podcasts, articles, field trips, hands-on activities, and shared reflection. Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year program of the School of Theology at the University of the South, meets on Monday evenings from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Zoom; three St. Matthew's parishioners have completed the program since the parish began hosting it in 2020.
Pub Theology gathers on a weeknight evening at a local restaurant or in a church member's home for small-group conversation about faith, meaning, identity, culture, and current events. Bible study, often led by lay people using the Dwelling in the Word model of lectio divina, is offered periodically, and clergy often lead discussions of specific books of the Bible, from Jonah to Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Adult Forums, typically held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., bring in guest speakers on timely topics; recent examples have included a workshop with Braver Angels on civil conversation across difference and a presentation on the Indigenous Peoples of Southwestern Connecticut. Parish Reads book studies are also offered, often in summer, with recent titles including Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and Eliza Griswold's Amity and Prosperity.
Open Doors, Circle of Care, and the Wider Community
St. Matthew's mission work is grounded in long-term partnerships. The parish regularly supports Open Doors, a Norwalk-based organization that runs a nightly shelter of more than ninety-five beds, serves more than sixty thousand meals a month, and operates a community closet, a grocery pantry, and case management. Every other month, fifteen to twenty St. Matthew's volunteers prepare a hot meal for Manna House, Open Doors' meal service. Seasonal drives have collected winter apparel, diapers, Halloween costumes, holiday gifts, and the parish's popular Stuff-a-Sock project, in which white athletic socks are filled with personal-size toiletries for shelter guests.
Circle of Care was founded by Wilton parents whose children had been diagnosed with cancer, and provides practical, emotional, and financial help to Connecticut families facing pediatric cancer. Women of St. Matthew's gather to make fleece Knots of Love blankets that go into Bags of Love for children entering the hospital, and the parish contributes holiday gifts and other items throughout the year.
St. Matthew's is a founding member of Wi-ACT, the Wilton Interfaith Action Committee, a coalition of twelve Wilton congregations - Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim - that hosts the annual Rise Hunger Now meal-packaging event. More than seven hundred volunteers of all ages gather each year to package around 142,000 highly nutritious meals in a single day.
Witness Stones and the Work of Reckoning
In October 2021 St. Matthew's began exploring its own history through The Witness Stones Project, an initiative that examines the lives of enslaved individuals in New England communities. After researching the parish's early records, the parish honored John C. Wally, an enslaved man whose life intersected with Wilton's founding generation, with the installation of a Witness Stone at the Wilton Historical Society. The parish continues to wrestle with what it learned, both about its complicity in the institution of slavery and about the local clergy and laypeople who took part in it.
The parish also cares for the physical world around it. The building was recently upgraded to energy-efficient fixtures and bulbs, with significant projected savings, and the parish has applied to the State of Connecticut to install a solar energy system. The Social Justice team encourages parishioners to bring their own mugs to coffee hour to reduce paper waste.
Pastoral Care and Life's Milestones
The Pastoral Care Team, trained in Safe Church, active listening, and other pastoral skills, assists the clergy with home visits, meal delivery, and extended care in difficult seasons. Members are licensed as Eucharistic Ministers and help bring Holy Communion to those unable to attend Sunday worship.
St. Matthew's accompanies members through the sacramental milestones of an Episcopal life. Holy Baptism is especially appropriate at the Easter Vigil, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints' Day, and the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. Confirmation preparation involves a semester of study of the Christian faith and the Episcopal tradition, with confirmands paired with adult mentors; the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut typically lays on hands at a regional gathering in the spring. Adults previously baptized or confirmed in another tradition may be received into the Episcopal Church, and returning Episcopalians may reaffirm their faith. The Book of Common Prayer grounds the parish's teaching on marriage, which the parish celebrates for all couples, including same-gender couples, with at least six months' notice and pre-marital counseling. Funerals are offered as Easter liturgies, marked by grief and by the certain hope of the resurrection.
St. Matthew's also owns and maintains the parish cemetery at 242 Danbury Road, founded in the early nineteenth century. The oldest grave is that of Sarah Williams, buried in 1802; more than nine hundred people are interred there, and a newly landscaped Memorial Garden for cremation burials was completed in 2025.
Leadership and a New Rector
The Rev. John H. Branson serves as Interim Rector. A semi-retired priest of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, he previously served as rector of Christ and Holy Trinity in Westport for twenty-two years before interim rectorships in Lake Forest, Illinois; Alexandria, Virginia; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Greenwich, Connecticut. The Rev. Dr. Tommy Watson serves as Associate for Formation and Engagement, overseeing the parish's work with children, youth, and adults. Irina Georgieva, Director of Music Ministries and Organist, joined St. Matthew's in August 2024; she holds degrees from the State Academy of Music in Sofia, Northwestern University, and the Eastman School of Music, is an Associate Professor of Conducting at Berklee College of Music, and directs the Cappella Cantorum MasterWorks Chorus in Deep River, Connecticut. Lucia Sato, the long-serving Nursery Staff member, grew up in St. Matthew's.
The Vestry has called the Rev. Kerith Harding as the parish's next rector. A Connecticut priest, she most recently served as long-term supply rector at St. John's, North Guilford, and before that as rector of St. John's in Kula, Maui. Her ministry at St. Matthew's will follow a parish-wide season of prayer and discernment, with a focus on accompanying the community over time as together they discern what it means to follow Christ in Wilton.
Giving, the Building, and Accessibility
Stewardship at St. Matthew's is rooted in the parish's conviction that all gifts come from God and are returned to God. Pledges support children's and youth ministries, music, building operations, clergy and staff, mission engagement, and fellowship, and they are the parish's primary source of funding beyond the annual auction and smaller gifts. Online giving, one-time and recurring pledge payments, gifts of securities, and planned giving through the endowment fund are all available, and the Rector's Discretionary Fund supports outreach in the wider community.
The sanctuary, classrooms, meeting rooms, and offices are fully accessible. The main entrance is through the courtyard adjacent to the parking lot, with numerous marked handicap spaces, and the side entrance on the circle allows visitors to be dropped off at the door. The clergy and readers are amplified for hearing accessibility, and online livestream services on Facebook and YouTube extend the parish's worship to those who cannot attend in person.