History of

Christ Episcopal Church

A Word About Who We Are...

The Windows

"St. Philip's Windows"

Fire Facts from November 1973

The young lawyer did his best to convince the bishop to establish a mission in Flint Hills, as Burlington, Iowa, was first known.   On October, 31, 1838, Burlington was adopted as a Missionary Station.  The first priest assigned was the Rev'd. John Bachelder. He began his ministry on March 14, 1839.  On February 2 of the following year the mission was organized into a parish, St. John's, as it was first known.  A church building (30' x 60') was begun on this site in 1847 and completed in 1850.

Through the succeeding century and a half Christ Episcopal Church has had, like many Christian communities, its good times and bad, lean years and good.  Christ Church has survived the Civil War and the rebuilding of a nation, internal strife during the later half of the nineteenth century, and the building of a new church, in 1884, the edifice in which Christ Church now worships. 

The twentieth century brought with it two world wars and the Great Depression.  For Christ Church there was growth.  In the mid 1960s there were some 450 worshippers.  The destructive fire in 1973 brought the parish family closer  together than at any other time in its history.  The discovery of a loss of nearly a quarter of a million dollars in the mid-1980s caused much pain.

But the parish is a resilient organization.  The Body of Christ may suffer its wounds, but there is always Easter; there is always new life in Christ.

Since the mid 1990s Christ Church has slowly, but steadily emerged from two decades of pain.  Today we are a smaller but vibrant congregation, growing in ministry to one another and in the world around us.

Christ Episcopal Church
Burlington, Iowa, USA