All Saints Episcopal Church, Hilton Head Island, SC

OUR HISTORY...

Where We've Been, Where We're Going

Dori Dixon, one of the founding members of All Saints, reminisced "In 1985, Bishop Allison appointed The Rev Jack McKee to establish a Mission Church on the North end of Hilton Head Island. The organizing meeting took place November 1985 at Spring Lake Pavilion in Hilton Head Plantation with 30 in attendance. The following matters were discussed and acted upon.

• The choice of a name for the Mission Church. After everyone voted, Jack McKee looked at the tally showing many church names but not one overwhelmingly. He then announced the he felt that All Saints might please everyone.
• The election of a partial Vestry. Those selected were Charlie Richman, Senior Warden; John Dixon, Treasurer; and Ann Gibson, Secretary.
• A place to Worship. Jack McKee announced that he and Charlie Richman had made a preliminary search and recommended The Pelican Restaurant. This restaurant no longer exists but was on Highway 278 where the Coastal Museum and the Chamber of Commerce are now located.

Next Sunday when the restaurant was closed, a group went there to determine if it was suitable for a church service. There was an immediate consensus that this location would be ideal for All Saints Mission Church.

December 8th 1985 marked the day for All Saints Mission Church's first service. Eight of those to become Mission Church members went early Sunday morning to set up chairs and arrange the altar table in front of glass doors providing a gorgeous view out over the marsh. This was downstairs in the lounge-bar area but with donated church items-the Cross and Candle Sticks, a Silver Chalice and Paten, linen and vases of flowers--the room seemed appropriate for a church service.

Others to become members of All Saints went to the 9:00 AM service at St. Luke's. After the Peace, Holland Clark the Rector announced that a Mission Church had been formed and some would now leave to attend the first service. After a prayer for the success of the new Mission Jack McKee led the group of new All Sainters down the center aisle. As the group left the church each of us were given a prayer book and a hymnal. We formed a procession of cars and drove the 12 miles to the Pelican Restaurant. After entering, and walking down the stairs everyone was delighted with how everything looked. Music greeted us from an old organ about the size of a Singer sewing machine. Vicar McKee and Archdeacon Beckwith who was in charge of Mission Churches for the Diocese conducted the service. The first service was a memorable occasion which boded well for the future of All Saints Mission Church."

After outgrowing the "Pelican" the congregation began meeting at the Hilton Head High School library for several years. Land for a new church building was purchased in 1988 and the first service in the new church was held in 1990.

Early in 1994, the parish started All Saints Pre-school. Continuing church growth prompted the construction of a new parish hall and church school buildings, which were completed in 1994.

Further expansion of both the church and the Christian Education facilities were completed in late summer 2001. The expansion was comprehensive. The capacity of the church was increased by over 50% to accommodate new members, a constant stream of visitors, and a magnificent new pipe organ. Offices and meeting rooms are now available to host the education programs and meetings. There is a beautiful library and large facilities for the youth and choir programs.

We look forward to welcoming you. 
View our Welcome Video.
Join us for worship on Sunday, and coffee hour immediately following our Service.

 

to top of page ...

Some Structure and Statistics (For more information, click on one of the linked icons.)

All Saints Church is one of the parishes in ...
the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.  Established in 1706, the diocese now comprises 24 counties with 76 congregations, 25,830 baptized members, and 178 clergy licensed or canonically resident. It is part of ...
	the Episcopal Church of the United States.  Formally created in 1780, ECUSA is a nationwide community of 2.3 million members in 110 dioceses.  It is one of the member churches in ...
the Anglican Communion -- a global community of 76 million Anglicans in 38 member churches and provinces.  The Communion, in turn, is a relatively small part of ...
	the community of all Christians.  Over 2 billion people worldwide, or about one-third of the world's population, identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.

to top of page ...

 

If there is no navigation bar present at the left of the screen, click here.