St. Mark’s Episcopal Church celebrates 150 years in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Wilmington is celebrating a huge milestone.

For 150 years, it has stood striving towards diversity and serving the community.

Kenneth Chestnut is a parishioner at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. He was also brought up in this church.

For him all churches are unique in their own way but St. Mark’s is particularly special.

“You can see it as you’re standing here that we definitely look to be diverse,” Chestnut said. “We’re a historically African American church but we’re a diverse church as well because we have to be if we’re looking to stay relevant and to continue to serve this community.”

Chestnut says St. Mark’s couldn’t have made it this far without their loyal congregation.
The faces have changed since 1869, but the energy has not.

“We’re standing on someone’s shoulders, a lot of people’s shoulders,” Chestnut added. That made it possible for us to succeed and be here today. We didn’t just start and we didn’t do it ourselves but we have a long long rich history in the city of Wilmington in this community.”

Chestnut is looking forward to many more years in Wilmington.