As the 175th celebration of St. John’s Episcopal Church in City Point approaches, preparations have been underway for the past year to celebrate its ministry since 1840. “This is a wonderful time in the history of the Episcopal Church at City point,” says the Rev. William B. Taylor, present Rector of the church. He says, “In a hundred seventy five years a whole lot of ministry has happened at St. John’s, and through that history there has been both hope and despair. We want to celebrate the times that we as a faith community have been good and faithful as well as to reflect on and learn from the times when we as God’s people have not been as responsive to the needs of others, but concentrating on our own political and social agendas. It is in the latter that we need to especially re- center ourselves in God’s loving agenda in Christ. Our theme is ‘Remembrance and Renewal.’”
The Protestant Episcopal Church at City Point was begun with a dream in George Moody’s Tavern near Nunnelly’s Point on April 13, 1840 when a number of Subscribers were gathered to organize what would become St. John’s Episcopal Church. A vestry was formed, a building committee established and bids were to be received after placing a classified in several Petersburg papers.
A businessman, state delegate, turn seminary student, the Honorable Malcolm MacFarland from Lunenburg County read morning and evening prayers in the absence of a priest at Merchant’s Hope, Prince George County and St. Paul’s, Petersburg. By the time the Rev. Mr. MacFarland was ordained to holy orders, on his own accord financed the building of the first Episcopal Church at City Point and put in the first organ for church worship. Mr. MacFarland was to preach and officiate once a fortnight (every other week) at the new church along with other pastoral responsibilities such as baptism, marriage, and burial. On Sunday evenings Mr. MacFarland preached to the slaves from the surrounding plantations, especially those on the Eppes Plantations in and around City Point.
The church was closed at the beginning of the Civil War. Confederate troops occupied the building using it as a signal tower, a jail to hold Union Prisoners of War to be exchanged. As early as 1862, with the shelling of City Point by gunboats in the James River, the Post Office close to the wharf, used as the telegraph office was destroyed and so moved to the church vestry room. Services resumed at the end of June 1867 after the church was repaired with the help of “friends from the North.”
The church was built in a Plain Greek Revival Style and served in that style until 1894 when the roof was raised and built to reflect a Gothic Revival Style. The transepts (wings) were added between 1918 and 1919 and the Apse with memorial windows was added in 1925. In 1933 a parish hall was added and named in honor of a beloved minister, The Rev. Fredrick Deane Gibson Ribble. For many years a bell tower was envisioned but the structure would not support the weight of the bell so finally from a variety of memorial gifts, a Celtic cross of copper was placed on the front pinnacle. A church education building was dedicated for use in the early 1960’s .
St. John’s has served the community of City Point, Hopewell, and the surrounding County offering spiritual opportunities in worship, study, pastoral counselling and service. The church has supported the youth in the area through scouting, a Girls Friendly Society, meeting spaces for community organizations such as the women’s club, historical groups, theater groups, and the neighborhood watch program. The congregation supports prayerfully and financially the James House, the Hopewell and Prince George Food Pantries, The Shepherd’s Place and various other community, provincial, and global projects .
As we take this time to celebrate so that we might remember our church history through many generations; we take time as well to renew and dedicate that continuing spirit with the same message of hope, redemption, and new life as it has since 1840. Our celebration will begin on April 12 at 10:30 A.M with the communion liturgy that would have been used in 1840. The congregation is invited wear period clothing to this service. At 3 P.M. the choir will present a choral and instrumental concert with light refreshments served afterwards.
At 5:30 P.M. on April 15, a program and service to honor ex-slave Paulina Epps by the laying of a headstone on her grave. The new columbarium will be dedicated and consecrated for the disposition of ash remains. On Sunday morning we will culminate our anniversary week with a service of rededication and renewal with Bishop Hollerith. All are invited to attend all or any of the event listed.
