St. Paul's Episcopal Church stands on Pine Street in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and is known for two Sunday celebrations of Holy Eucharist, a walking Prayer Path built for prayer and meditation, and a practical style of service that sends volunteers out with meals, food and school supplies. The congregation meets for Rite I at 8:00 AM and Rite II at 10:30 AM, and the Rite II service is livestreamed on the church's Facebook page.
The parish motto, "Growing in Christ, Serving God's People," frames a community that keeps worship, learning, prayer and outreach tied together, and parish life reaches well beyond the two services on Sunday morning.
Two Sunday Eucharists and a First Sunday Breakfast
St. Paul's offers two services of Holy Eucharist every Sunday. Rite I begins at 8:00 AM, and Rite II at 10:30 AM, so members and visitors can choose between two worship times. The Rite II service is livestreamed for those who cannot be in the building.
On the first Sunday of each month, a parish breakfast is held between the two services. Members and guests are invited to bring a breakfast dish to share and join in the food and fellowship, a simple rhythm that puts the congregation around a table before the second service begins.
The church's office is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and the office phone number is (803) 547-5968.
Fr. Earnest Graham Teaches with Images and Cartoons
St. Paul's welcomed Fr. Earnest Graham as its rector following a three-year period without a permanent priest. He follows Fr. Edmund Pickup, who served as interim priest for 30 months. Before coming to St. Paul's, Fr. Graham spent ten years on the staff of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina as canon for regional ministry, helping small congregations grow in talent and treasure and training communicants in lay ministry, especially preaching. Earlier clergy posts took him to Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, St. Francis in Great Falls, Virginia, St. John's in Chuckatuck, St. Matthews in Chesterfield and Hickory Neck in Toano.
His teaching is distinctly visual. With degrees in art and history, Fr. Graham began as a graphic artist and continues to publish religious cartoons, translating several books into comic format, including The Stations of the Cross, and working on selections from Psalms in various art forms. "Drawing still nourishes my mind and soul," he says. His comics-based study of the parables of Jesus has been shared with the congregation in intergenerational gatherings, where children and adults work through the same stories together.
Kids' Corner and the Whole People of God
Children in kindergarten through fourth grade meet each Sunday for Kids' Corner. Child-centered adults use the Whole People of God curriculum, which is lectionary-based so that children and adults study the same scriptures each week. When the service reaches The Peace, children rejoin their families before communion. St. Paul's Christian education for young people also asks them to make "God is Everywhere" real in daily life and to recognize how Christians share the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Families also take part in diocesan youth programs, including conferences and retreats for middle and high school students, a winter ski trip and a Cursillo weekend.
Tuesday Book Study in Close Hall
A Tuesday book study meets at 11:00 AM in Close Hall. The group describes itself as welcoming, caring and non-judging, and it reads and discusses a wide variety of often challenging books related to faith. Discussions have included C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Carmen Joy Imes's Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters. Its welcome to newcomers is direct: do not stay away because you may feel you "don't know enough," because everyone is learning.
A Walking Prayer Path on the Church Grounds
St. Paul's has a prayer path, an Abingdon Octagonal six-circuit walking labyrinth designed for prayer and meditation. The single path spirals in toward one center and then out again, with no dead ends, so a walker cannot lose the way. A cross and restoration work on the path were completed by Isaac Lopez in memory of his wife, Emmie Jo Lopez.
Suggested ways to walk the path
The Cleansing Journey begins with confession and carries the walker toward the center with stones that can be laid down as symbols of worries, then moves back out with thanks and celebration. Other practices include asking God a question as you enter and listening for an answer in the turns, and a Remembrance Walk that holds a person or event in memory while the walker gives thanks at the center.
Psalm 24 offers a third pattern, moving from worship and thanksgiving for the earth and its people, to confession with clean hands and a pure heart, and finally to intercession for others. The church describes the path as a way to learn to pray in ways that shape people deeply, to unleash the power of God's Spirit in daily life, and to connect with God's heart for its mission.
Mission and Outreach: Shelter Meals, Care Center Supplies, School Needs
The Missions and Outreach Committee coordinates the congregation's hands-on work. Volunteers are described as ordinary people who teach, listen, help, inspire, build, grow and learn, and the committee says that although its numbers are not large, its outreach is. Wendy Penk and Sue Craven help direct the work, and each ongoing mission has a named contact.
- Bethel Men's Shelter: The church prepares a dinner once a quarter. Volunteers sign up to bring baked pasta, salad, rolls, brownies, tea and lemonade, and to set up, serve and clean up. Food is dropped off at the church and taken to the shelter, where the group's total time is about two hours.
- Fort Mill Care Center: The church collects food, hygiene and cleaning products in a grocery cart outside the main door and a bin on the first floor. Requested items have included canned pasta, potatoes, peas and collards, canned pineapple, fruit and applesauce cups, baked beans, ramen and spices.
- Classroom Ready: Working with guidance counselors in the Fort Mill School District, this ministry responds to students' school supply needs. The church calls itself the "Sticky Church" because of the tape it collects, and black or white three-ring binders in 1.5 and 2 inch sizes are gathered in the mission bin near the offices. More than 800 students are served each year.
Financial gifts from the parish support those same missions and others: Bethel Men's Shelter, Fort Mill Care Center, the Historic Paradise Foundation, Food for the Poor, the Vivanco Family Ministry in Ecuador, Education Equals Hope and Defend the Fatherless. Online giving is available through the church's giving page.
At 501 Pine Street, St. Paul's Episcopal Church holds two Sunday Eucharists, gathers children and adults around the same lectionary, reads books together on Tuesday mornings, walks a labyrinth for prayer, and sends volunteers out with meals, pantry goods and school supplies. It is a parish where formation and service are practiced side by side, and where the people of Pine Street keep growing in Christ and serving God's people.