Meet Christ Church, Raleigh

By Elizabeth McKinnon

Christ Church, a historic parish founded in 1821, was Raleigh’s first Episcopal Church. Today we are a vibrant faith community of more than 2,800 members, located in the heart of North Carolina’s capital city on Capitol Square.

Christ Church is part of the body of Christ where the Word of God is taught, heard and lived, and which provides a welcoming place of worship for all people, ministers to the needs and aspirations of its congregation, and extends Christian outreach to the community and the world.

Christ Church welcomes all people to God’s altar, with ever-expanding Christian formation for all ages, in addition to our many regular worship services – four on Sundays, one each Tuesday morning and one on the second Wednesday of each month. In recent years, we have focused our time, talent and treasure on three key ministry areas – expanding our worship and music programs, increasing opportunities for outreach, and growing our Christian formation ministries for children, youth and adults.

In 2016, we finished a major addition and renovation to our parish house in order to meet the needs of our growing parish and community. In 2017, the church received the Anthemion Award by the Board of Directors of Capital Area Preservation, Inc. This award recognizes our new space’s keeping with the original Gothic Revival architecture of the church, as well as its functionality and ability to meet the needs of our ministries.