Christ Church, Greenwich, is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of Connecticut, United States, located in the Putnam Hill Historic District along the

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

(

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

) as it passes through

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. ...

.Christ Church, Greenwich, homepage
Retrieved 20 December 2022. The parish was established in 1749, and the current church building dates from 1910. The church runs a number of programs and courses and is also known for its

choirs A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

.Christ Church, Greenwich, History
Retrieved 20 December 2022.

History of the parish

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

worship in Greenwich dates from 1705, when the first

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

mission was established in the town with the help of the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

and the first services were conducted in a private home by the Rev. George Muirson, rector of nearby Grace Church in

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

. Following the appointment of the Rev. Ebenezer Dibblee as missionary to Stamford and Greenwich in 1748, the congregation constructed a small wooden chapel, known as the Horseneck Chapel, on Putnam Hill. Services were held there until the chapel was destroyed in a gale in 1821.Connecticut Historical Records Society, ''Inventory of the Church Archives of Connecticut''
(1940), No. 71, Christ Church, Greenwich, pp. 96−97, A new chapel was built on the other side of Putnam Avenue (on the site of the present church) and consecrated in 1834. It was replaced by a larger church in 1857, and again in 1910 when the present building was completed.

Buildings and architecture

The Christ Church campus comprises the church, chapel, parish hall, bookshop, nursery school and various administrative offices and other rooms. The church, built of stone in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style, features a square tower with battlements and pinnacles, and stained glass windows. In 1839 a three acre plot of land was acquired next to the church for a cemetery. The parsonage was built in 1843 and replaced in 1997.

Music

Christ Church has an extensive music program, which follows the

Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

certification course. There are six choirs for children and adults, currently directed by Jamie Hitel and assisted by Jonathan Vaughn, which sing regularly at services and concerts and have also conducted international tours, including to

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

in 2022 and

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

in 2024. Philip Moore, organist emeritus of

York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...

in England, has been a visiting artist at Christ Church since 2009; and James O'Donnell, organist emeritus of Westminster Abbey and professor of organ at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, was appointed artist-in-residence in 2023. A new Harrison and Harrison pipe organ was installed in 2022, replacing the

Austin Organs Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...

instrument dating from 1976.''Greenwich Time'', "'It's not the number of pipes': Christ Church Greenwich prepares to install new organ custom built in England"
16 July 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.

The church today

Christ Church offers regular services of worship, including

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

, which are also livestreamed, and has a wide range of education and outreach programs. It runs a nursery school, which opened in 1961, and a book and gift store, which opened in 1984.

References

{{reflist Greenwich, Connecticut Churches in Greenwich, Connecticut Churches in Fairfield County, Connecticut Episcopal church buildings in Connecticut Religious organizations established in 1749 20th-century Episcopal church buildings Churches completed in 1910