Our History

Saint Christopher Episcopal church, or St Chris colloquially, located in the West Side of Charleston, West Virginia was founded in December 2007. St. Chris was founded from four smaller episcopal churches in the Metro area: All Saints in South Charleston, Church of The Good Shepherd in Kanawha City, St. James, a historically African American Parish, located in North Charleston, and Saint Luke’s located in the West Side of Charleston.

Prior to the merger, the churches rotated Sunday services for about two years moving from one location to another on a monthly rotation in the different buildings. The different congregations had the opportunity to showcase their buildings and their preferred type of worship. The Senior and Junior wardens and the treasurers of each congregation worked as a committee to help facilitate the merger.

During these two years the churches decided to merge. We chose the name St. Christopher, called the “Christbearer” who is known as the patron saint of travel or journeys. This felt appropriate as the congregations had been traveling to each other's churches and eventually decided to journey as one church. Furthermore, we decided to settle into the former St. Luke's building on Charleston's Westside and the congregation remains there to this day.

Following the vote, each congregation had a closing service in its building and the sanctuary light was extinguished and the name removed from the diocesan list of churches.

During the merging period The Reverend Jim Lewis and The Rev John Fondriiak, a Lutheran Pastor, were both instrumental to a smooth merger. Both pastors stayed on at St Christopher until the time of their death.

St. Christopher's first rector was the Rev. Melissa Remington who served between 2009-2019 with a brief hiatus in 2013. During this time the church especially enjoyed our fulsome choir, led by Fred Chiles, and had a number of significant community outreach commitments such as our Summer Day Camp and Tastes and Sounds of Christmas.

During this period, a congregant felt a call to ministry. St. Christopher helped the Rev. Greg Pennington become a deacon and priest and he served in leadership after Rev Melissa retired. Greg was especially helpful navigating the church through the pandemic and helping folks migrate online. He provided pastoral leadership while he was in training until he took a call in Huntington. Alongside Greg, the congregation was led by Kristi Evans who led the choir after Fred Chiles and was a key person between ministers.

In October 2025, St Christopher called the Rev. Nathan Self (“Pastor Nathan”) to be its rector. St. Christopher is growing and hopeful for its future and the future of Charleston. The church recently installed solar, becoming the first church in Charleston to generate all its electricity from solar power. St Chris continues to focus on outreach. These projects include the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Center (2nd Avenue Center), Mary C. Snow Elementary, The SHOP at Bream, as well as many others.

In December 2027, St Christopher will celebrate our 20th anniversary. Come join us as we write our next chapter and prepare to launch into our next 20 years serving Charleston’s Westside.

“A diverse family of faith, sharing in God’s love, Participating in ministries and welcoming all”

Questions?