WHAT WE BELIEVE
As Episcopalians, we believe in and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world.
We believe that God loves everyone.
No exceptions.
Our Beliefs
We often encapsulate our vision and mission statements in these words:
Love inclusively
Serve faithfully
Share generously
Vision Statement
The Church of the Messiah is an intentionally inclusive community called to love the Lord and to serve God’s world in a spirit of reconciliation, hope, and healing.
Mission Statement
The Church of the Messiah follows Jesus through our liturgy and music while sharing the love of Jesus by serving the Myrtle Beach community.
Our History
Myrtle Beach began to grow as a resort in the 1930's. In the summers of 1935 and 1936, the Rev. Thomas S. Tisdale worked with interested persons in Myrtle Beach to organize a congregation of Episcopalians. Also instrumental was The Reverend Henry D. Bull, Rector of Prince George Church in Georgetown. The first services were in Presbyterian and Methodist Churches on Sunday afternoons.
In March of 1937, a lot on Highway 17 at 30th Avenue North was donated by Myrtle Beach Farms for an Episcopal Church building and construction began on November 23, 1937. At the 1940 convention of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, The Episcopal Church of the Messiah was admitted as a mission church. A priest-in-charge was appointed that year.
The Church of the Messiah was made a parish church in union with the diocese in the spring of 1949. In 1951, the name of the church was changed to Trinity Episcopal Church. The next decades experienced building expansion and growth in numbers of parishioners.
A sad division took place on December 3, 2012, when Trinity Church joined the then Bishop Mark Lawrence in a schism that took Trinity and a number of other Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina parishes out of the Episcopal Church and eventually created a new denomination. It took ten years for the courts and the two dioceses to decide which Church properties belonged to the Episcopal Diocese and which Church facilities were to be owned by the Schismatic group, the Anglican Church in North America. At the final court decision in August, 2022, Trinity learned that they would continue as part of the ACNA group.
In response to the 2012 scism, a group of faithful Episcopalians who had been part of Trinity met on January 6, 2013 to re-establish the Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach. A worshipping community began holding regular services on August 4, 2013, with the assistance of the Rev. Wilmot Merchant, Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in North Myrtle Beach. With guest priests serving, the Holy Eucharist was offered each Sunday according to the Episcopal Book of Common prayer. When the time came to select a name for the church, the Episcopal Church of the Messiah was chosen to mark our true and historic continuity with the beloved chain of an Episcopal presence in Myrtle Beach for over eighty years. The Church of the Messiah once again became a congregation of the diocese of the Episcopal Church of South Carolina in 2014. We are thankful to Coastal Carolina University, the Brittain Center and St. Phillip Lutheran Church for providing us with temporary homes from 2013 to 2020.
In 2019 we began a search for a place to call our own. In March of 2020, we moved into our present location in retail space at "Pink House Square", a shopping center at 4201 North Kings Highway. After only two weeks of worshipping at our new location, COVID struck. This held back our full use of our new facilities for a few years. But our Vicar since 2014, Father Randy Ferebee and our faithful parishioners kept worship and our Episcopal traditions alive with innovative solutions. These included car-communion in the back parking lot, with the priest leading worship through the car radio and worshippers receiving the communion wafer in an individually wrapped packet. We continued growing through the pandemic. As the Pandemic was winding down, Fr. Randy retired a second time, moved back to his native North Carolina, and our Current Vicar, Fr. John Sorensen, recently retired from the Diocese of Pennsylvania, joined us in early 2022.
The Episcopal Church of the Messiah continues to grow in our faith, in our ministry programs, in our mission in the community as well as in our numbers. Our "Church" building is a first floor room that seats as many as 80 for Easter Sunday, 2024. Our Church "Parish Hall" is upstairs, including office space, choir room, Childcare and Coffee Hour facilities. We hope you'll join us! Let's make history together!
As of Summer, 2024, the Parish leadership has completed a Vision and Business plan to partner with the Diocese and move forward over the next five years, growing the congregation and building a new permanent church in Myrtle Beach. This is an exciting time to be part of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah. Please join us!
Our Vision. Our Future.
The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina has purchased a three acre parcel of Land for us, on which we will build a new church home!
This land is Our Land!
To borrow from folk singer Woody Guthrie’s 1945 song, the land is ours!
This land is your land, this land is our land,
from 17 Bypass to 38th Avenue!
from Oleander Drive to Hartsfield Place,
This land was made for you and me!
The signing of purchase documents occurred last week in multiple locations, beginning with Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley’s signing of the documents in Charleston on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2025. (See Photo below.) The owner of the property is the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. Officially, the “Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Church of South Carolina”. The Trustees will continue to own this property until we become a parish and are financially capable of assuming the loan, some years from now. In the words of Charlie Jordan, our parishioner and attorney who faithfully shepherded the closing process, "The loan amount is $2,200,000. The Lender is the Episcopal Church Building Fund. The Note is payable by the Trustees and has a 20-year term".
Our understanding with the Diocese of South Carolina is that the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, a mission congregation of the diocese, will have stewardship of the three-acre property while the diocese continues to pay the loan. Our stewardship of the property will include making plans for a new church facility on the site, as well as raising money through a capital campaign and finding other resources to fund construction of the new Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Myrtle Beach.
In addition to the 2.2 million dollar purchase cost, Messiah’s vestry expended $63,972 to purchase the property. This included $39,547 in earnest Money, and $24,425 in design and survey costs, for a total of $63,972. These costs are itemized as follows:
Earnest Money: $39,547
Geometric Soil Survey & construction specifications: $7,625
Chancel Construction, Concept design drawings & construction parameters: $15,000
Property Survey: $1,800
Total Earnest Money, Design and Survey Costs: $63,972
These expenses were paid by savings that Messiah had prudently accrued since it was founded in 2013. In addition, ever since the South Carolina Supreme Court awarded our former church property to the ACNA group in 2022, parishioners and friends have quietly been contributing to a Capital Campaign fund in preparation for this exciting day of property ownership. And now, our work continues, as the vestry will be planning our next stages, including forming parish teams to continue the design work for our future church and organizing a capital campaign.
There are many people to thank for helping the Episcopal church of the Messiah reach this milestone in our history. We begin with the intrepid visionaries who founded Messiah in 2013 when a schism took away their church. About half of our current church membership were part of this group. Next, we acknowledge the hard work of our Vision & Property Team, who in 2022 led the congregation in a process of vision discernment and property analysis that led to the purchase of our new home at 38th and 17 Bypass: Kristi Burch, Rick Stall, Charlie Jordan, Peggy Kovacs and John Sorensen. Then, we are thankful for the many new members who have joined the Messiah Congregation in recent years in our temporary location. These people have the spiritual vision to see what is possible in the future for us all. And finally, we thank Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley and the Diocese of South Carolina for putting their faith in our future. It was July of 2024 that the Standing Committee of the Diocese met with our team, and enthusiastically approved the purchase of this three acre parcel as the new location for the Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach!
Vicar John Sorensen
Below: Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley signs the land purchase documents for Messiah's new home. March 17, 2025.
Episcopal Church of the Messiah Property Search:
Finding Our New Home
Team Leader Kristi Burch writes here about the process of finding our new property at the corner of 38th Avenue and 17 Bypass.
In our quest to move into our next phase as the Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach, we were given the opportunity to go through a visioning process for Messiah. 70% of Parishioners came together over two different retreats two summers ago. These retreats, led by Ann Fleming of the Episcopal Church Building Fund, led to small teams that collected data about the area and our parish. The data about where we all live and how we commute to worship on Sunday morning is what kept us focused on the area where we found our future home. That it’s not far from our current home tells us that this is the location for us to build our house of worship.
The parcel that we now call our own is an ideal location and size for a growing parish. It’s within the city limits of Myrtle Beach at the northeast corner of Highway 17 Bypass and 38th Avenue North. There is no direct access off either of these roads. To access the property, use Oleander Drive, then turn onto Hartsfield Place. This is a cul-de-sac that is mostly undeveloped. Each time you drive on 38th Avenue near Oleander Drive, please pray for the coming building that we will call home. The visibility and impact of our church location will be significant.
It was not easy for us to find a new location for Messiah. Traditionally, many Myrtle Beach churches built buildings on land that was donated or purchased at minimal cost. Neither option was available to us. More recently, churches have used repurposed commercial real estate space in Myrtle Beach. However, industrial areas are often not zoned for assembly space, which is the zoning that worship spaces require. Additionally, Myrtle Beach has one of the lowest commercial real estate vacancies in the country. This lack of supply makes the cost of land and rental space drastically higher than anywhere else in the Diocese, except the peninsula of Charleston.
The impact of the cost of commercial real estate, the incredible growth of Myrtle Beach, and the reduced number of Episcopal Churches in Horry County lead the Bishop and Standing Committee to identify Messiah as a place to invest in church growth. That support became evident in July of 2024 when the Standing Committee approved the funding to purchase a parcel of land on which to build a new church. We presented two parcels for consideration. One was considered too small, and our current new property was chosen as the best location for a new Episcopal Church of the Messiah!
Over the past several months, we have worked with local architect Tom Miller and local commercial builder Chancel Construction to develop a concept plan. Before closing on the property, we wanted to be sure that a building that fits our vision can be constructed on the property with enough parking. It does! The building can be constructed in three phases. Now that the property has been purchased, the next steps in the process will need feedback and ideas from the congregation. We will also want your time and talent, your hopes and prayers for the future ministry of Messiah Church. We believe that this design and planning process will continue to form Messiah as a community of people who continue to worship together, care for one another, and become worthy stewards of the physical gifts God has given us.
My favorite part of our visioning retreats was hearing about the past experiences of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Messiah is a worshiping and caring parish. Less than half of our current members were part of the local Episcopal Church prior to the schism. Therefore, more than half of our current members are new to Messiah and Myrtle Beach. This blend of experience is a gift to the next phase of Messiah’s parish life.
Kristi Burch
Below: Our Concept plan for our new Episcopal Church of the Messiah home on our three-acre property, by Tom Miller of Miller Design Services.
Forward Day by Day
Daily Devotions
Forward Day by Day is a collection of daily inspirational meditations reflecting on a specific Bible passage, chosen from the daily lectionary readings as listed in the Revised Common Lectionary or the Daily Office from the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer. Forward Movement, the publisher, is an agency of The Episcopal Church.
Daily podcast: Available here or anywhere you listen to podcasts
• Smartphone App: App Store and Google Play
• Visit our daily prayer website (mirrors app content): English | Español
Braille and Spanish versions are available on their website. Large-print and pocket-sized booklets are available in our chapel.
Faith in Action Journey
Here is a meditation by Patty Tate, our parish secretary. It's an on-going challenge to put our faith into action but that is exactly what is asked us of in James 2:17: So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. Daily we must love our neighbors through our actions.
We will falter.
We will take a deep breath and with God's help try again.
We will speak without thinking.
We will ask both God and the person we hurt for forgiveness.
We will ignore someone in need.
We will ask God to open our eyes so that we see others and their needs..
We will think only of ourselves.
We will ask God to open our hearts as we extend a hand to someone else.
As we grow bit by bit, we will continue to stumble but with God's help we will have faith with works.
Please walk with us on our faith with works journey!
The Three Legged Stool
Scripture, tradition and reason are the cornerstones of our faith.
These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way. Scripture is the normative source for God's revelation and the source for all Christian teaching and reflection. Tradition passes down from generation to generation the church's ongoing experience of God's presence and activity. Reason is understood to include the human capacity to discern the truth in both rational and intuitive ways. It is not limited to logic as such. It takes into account and includes experience. Each of the three sources of authority must be perceived and interpreted in light of the other two.
What's the meaning of the logo?
The emblem of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah is composed of a Latin cross and the bow of a boat. Captured in these images is our mission to follow the Messiah and to move with God's spirit into the world. Particularly appropriate for a church by the sea, a boat is an early symbol of the people of God who gather as disciples and go out to "fish for people" (Matthew 4:19) as apostles.
