Christ Church, Savannah

Christ Church is one of Savannah’s oldest congregations and is often called the Mother Church of Georgia. Its story began in 1733, alongside the founding of the Georgia colony. General James Oglethorpe reserved this site for the church in his original plan for Savannah, although the congregation first met in the settlement’s courthouse.

One of its best-known early rectors was John Wesley, who served here from 1736 to 1737. Although his time in Savannah was brief, he published A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, regarded as the first English-language hymnal produced in America. Wesley was followed by the celebrated preacher George Whitefield, who helped raise funds for an orphanage established in the colony.

The interior you see today is largely the result of rebuilding after a major fire in 1895, which nearly destroyed the building. Among its most notable features are the Ascension stained-glass windows. They commemorate the Right Reverend Stephen Elliott, the first Episcopal bishop of Georgia and, during the Civil War, the presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.

Christ Church remains both a historic landmark and an active place of worship. Sunday services continue to be held here, including an Evening Eucharist at 6 pm, maintaining a tradition that began during Savannah’s earliest years.