St James Episcopal Church Millcreek Hundred is a church in the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. Established in 1714, the congregation is a long-established neighbor in the community.
Upon visiting St James you will observe a lovely historic church building in the colonial architectural tradition originally constructed in 1820. This charming building is surrounded by an historic cemetery with graves dating back to pre-revolutionary war times. The church building is on the registry of historic places.
What began as a country church is now surrounded by the busy Millcreek Hundred area of Wilmington just off of Kirkwood Highway. Conveniently located, the parish is made up of people from neighborhoods both near and far including some parishioners from Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The parish house is located across the street (St. James Church Road) and consists of a series of connected buildings. The last addition was done in 1975. There is a large parking lot adjacent to the Parish House. The Parish House is utilized by various community groups including a pre-school and Family Promise.
The rectory, located next to but not attached to the parish house, is a large three-story house constructed in 1927. This is the current home for Family Promise of New Castle County.
What you won’t “see” upon your first visit but will feel is that we are a growing, mission centered congregation intentionally focused on sharing, internally and externally, the gifts and love God has given us. We are a parish family of all ages where each member is valued, respected, and encouraged to develop and share his/her talents. Our members and clergy joyfully work together and communicate openly, empowering our spirits to be God’s heart and hands in the world.
In a parish questionnaire, our parishioners identified the following strengths:
- Worship Services
- Prayer Meetings
- Strong commitment to Family Promise, Emmanuel Dining Room and Adopt-a-Family ministries
- Caring and supportive Congregation
- Strong Music Program
- Active Bazaar Group
- Youth Group
- Multi generations of families
- Welcoming, respectful and loving
Parishioners are committed to each other and Christ. Having just passed the 300 year anniversary mark in 2014 and on the advent of a search for a new rector, the people of St James’ look forward to embracing the future which is full of promise. There are lots of opportunities ahead to minister, spread the Word of God, and be good and faithful stewards.
Thank you for your interest in our community of faith: The Search Committee: Val Brunson, Jim Craig, Val Hall, Larry Heinold, Carolyn Joynt, David Niehaus, Steve Prescott, Richard Prettyman, Margaret Russ, Jenny Vrana, and Susan Winward.
Search Committee Progress
The first step in the search process is to do a Parish Self-Assessment to determine the collective hopes and dreams for our church. After the assessment has been completed, the team will use the output as well as input from the parish to put together a church profile. The committee has solicited the services of a consulting firm, Holy Cow!, to administer that survey, and they are currently working to finalize the content to be included. Please look for more information about this assessment in upcoming e-Epistle articles.
Simultaneously, a sub team on the Search Committee has been working hard to update the St. James’ website so that it is representative of who we are as a parish. A rector search page has been added, which will eventually house the parish profile. This will be the first glimpse that potential candidates will have of St. James.
Finally, the Search Committee just completed the Anti-bias training provided by the Diocese. It was important to the team to take this training to ensure that hidden biases do not prevent them from considering the best candidates for St. James’.