A History Note from 1957:
In 1955 George and Helen Smith moved from the Chicago area to Omena, where they assumed responsibility for the Smith Orchards. Not long after their arrival, they decided to make their home available as a permanent location for Episcopal Sunday services.
About the same time, the Boswell sisters, long time summer residents from Cincinnati, bequeathed their cottage on Omena Bay to the Diocese of Southern Ohio as a vacation home for their clergy and families. This meant services began at the Smith’s with a willing source of Episcopal priests to celebrate services. The living room of the home was ample for congregations of up to forty people, and a babysitter watched small children outside on the lawn. The hospitality of the Smiths extended on after the service in the form of coffee and donuts in the dining room. Assisted by many friends, George and Helen Smith sustained St. Christopher’s for ten years and there are still some current members who happily recall this first period of the church.
Historical information researched and prepared by Ethel Wills and Preston Smith (A History of Leelanau Township, copyright 1982)
Below is a list of key milestones in our history – or see this lovely map of the winding path that has led us to today!
- 1955- St. Christopher’s starts when George and Helen Smith offer their orchard home in Omena as a gathering place for Episcopal Sunday Services.
- 1971- We receive a Certificate of Commitment to become a year-round mission, under the sponsorship of Grace Episcopal in Traverse City.
- 1972- We adopt the name St. Christopher’s and our first service is held in the Leelanau Memorial Hospital Chapel.
- 1973- St. Gertrude’s Roman Catholic Church invites the people of St. Christopher’s to hold services at their church building (the building immediately south of the current St. Gertrude’s).
- 1976- St. Christopher’s follows St. Gertrude’s into their new building where we currently worship.
- 1996- Following approval by the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan, St. Christopher’s becomes a parish.
- 2000- St. Christopher’s calls its first Episcopal rector.
- 2008- St. Christopher’s enters into a Covenant of Shared Ministry with Bethany Lutheran Church in Northport and the two parishes hire a minister to serve both churches.
- 2015- St. Christopher’s and Bethany Lutheran begin to actively seek their next minister.
- 2020- St. Christopher’s and Bethany Lutheran engage the Reverend Doctor Chrysanne Timm as our new minister to serve both churches.
- 2021- St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church celebrates 50 years of worship!
