Who we are

In 1877 six people signed and sent a letter to the first Episcopal Bishop of Texas, The Right Reverend Alexander Gregg, D.D., requesting that the Episcopal Church of America be established in Beaumont, Texas. Within the next two years, under the Bishop’s direction, The Reverend Edwin Wickens, Archdeacon, was sent to Beaumont to establish the Mission of the Good Shepherd. By 1879 laypersons were leading services in various halls in a Methodist church, confirmation classes were started and a vestry was elected. In 1880 the vestry voted to change the name of the Mission to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and in 1883 the parishioners began raising money for a building to be erected. In 1899 a red brick church was completed on the corner of Forsythe and Orleans. The Beaumont Enterprise said the church was, “the handsomest church edifice in the city.” In 1900 the church had 200 communicants. The founders of St. Mark’s established a strong choir program and purchased an organ and vestments. They established women’s and children’s programs, the Daughters of the King, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, sponsored  the first Boy Scout Troop in Beaumont and established other missions. By 1913 the church had outgrown its space and during a parish meeting voted to sell their current church and purchase property on the corner of Pearl and Calder where St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is today.

 
St. Mark’s today is a warm and welcoming community of faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Like our founders, today’s parishioners value our children, our music, our traditions, our worship and our outreach. Many of the programs established in the early 1900s are still part of St. Mark’s today. We place a high value on serving our community as well as committing ourselves to becoming nurturing and mature Christian Disciples.