A Neighborhood Church on the Corner of Hampton Boulevard
For more than a century, the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd has anchored a stretch of Norfolk known as Meadowbrook and the surrounding North Shore neighborhoods. The parish sits at the corner of Hampton Boulevard and North Shore Road, where a 1917 stucco church once stood and where a larger 1969 sanctuary now gathers nearly every member of the family each Sunday at nine o'clock. Good Shepherd describes itself with three words: creative, curious, and faithful. The motto on the bulletin cover - "Make a careful exploration of who you are and do the creative best you can with your own life" - is drawn from Galatians 6 in The Message, and the parish takes it seriously, filling its plate-glass windows with rotating art, running a youth puppet and theater camp, and cooking monthly meals for people experiencing homelessness.
The congregation is intentionally intergenerational. Members of all ages take part in the Sunday service, and the nursery, Children's Chapel, and acolyte program open the door for the youngest worshipers. Visitors are welcomed warmly and offered coffee and pastries after the service. The church is part of the Diocese of Southern Virginia and identifies itself as an Episcopal parish within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Sunday Worship: Prayerful, Receptive, and Open to Children
The single weekly service is Holy Eucharist Rite II, held every Sunday at 9:00 a.m. in person and livestreamed. Worship here is described as prayerful and reverent, with sermons meant to make the congregation think, uplifting music, scripture readings, structured prayers, times of meditative silence, and a printed bulletin that guides newcomers through the liturgy. Holy Communion with bread and wine is offered at every service, and members of all ages participate. Coffee and pastries follow.
Children are not just tolerated at Good Shepherd; they are woven into the service. All children gather in the narthex before worship and walk in together at the procession. Children ages three through seven are then invited to Children's Chapel, an interactive, child-centered program held during the first part of the service that explores Bible stories through creativity, art, drama, and music before the children return to the sanctuary before Communion. Children who prefer to stay with their families can use a wiggle-friendly section with quiet items to the right of the altar. Children eight and up are invited to serve as acolytes. A nursery for children under three is open from 8:30 to 10:30.
Music is led by Dr. Harlan Zackery, Jr., who directs the choral program at Norfolk State University and brings decades of experience as a choral conductor, orchestral conductor, and piano soloist to the parish. Recorded sermons are posted on YouTube so the wider community can follow along.
Over a Century on Hampton Boulevard
Good Shepherd's origins trace back to Sunday school. In 1915 the surrounding area was rural suburbia, and the families who lived there found it too far to travel back and forth between Sunday school and church services in downtown Norfolk. A Women's Guild raised more than $3,000 and drew up plans for a distinctive little church in Spanish Mission style, with a stucco exterior and brick flooring. Construction began in spring 1917 as the United States entered World War I, and the church was dedicated on September 30 of that same year, served at first by a temporary minister.
By 1921 the congregation had grown to 86; by 1928 it had reached 200, and a new chancel, Sunday school frame building, and side wing for 100 additional seats were added. In February 1939 the cornerstone was laid for a separate Memorial Hall with kitchen and office space, opening in September to card parties, plays, movies, and Sunday school classes separated by rolling walls. During World War II the parish turned its energy to First Aid and Home Nursing classes, sewing for the Red Cross, and an Armed Forces Hospitality Center.
Returning servicemen and young families swelled the rolls after the war, and a new family-friendly service was inaugurated to allow parents and children to attend together. By 1956 a connecting wing devoted to thirteen Sunday school classrooms had been completed, and by 1965 the parish numbered roughly 1,700. Four adjacent houses were purchased and demolished to make room for a new contemporary church, which opened on June 2, 1969 - almost exactly fifty years after the original dedication. In the 1970s Good Shepherd was the largest church in the Diocese of Southern Virginia. Although its size has since moderated, the parish remains a growing community and continues to serve as a spiritual anchor for the Meadowbrook neighborhood.
Creative Beings: Art in the Windows
Good Shepherd believes that creativity builds meaningful connections between people, and the parish pours that conviction into its plate-glass windows. Throughout the year, the windows are filled with rotating art installations that reflect the seasons and prayers of the faith community. Past projects have included a Pentecost installation, an Easter window made from thousands of watercolor coffee filters inspired by artist Jean Swan Gordon, an Epiphany display built during a December Window Workshop Art Night, and an Advent window paired with verses from an eighteenth-century hymn.
In 2025 the parish launched its first poetry contest to wrap up a creative summer series called Food for Body and Soul, inviting members of the community and writers everywhere to submit original work. The Creative Beings program is rooted in Galatians 6: "Live creatively, Friends! Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that."
Children, Youth, and Camp Imagine
Children and youth ministry is central to the parish and is led by Ben Blanchard, who has been on staff since 2005 and whose full-time call since fall 2021 is to create space and opportunities for children and youth to explore who God is and to participate in the life of an active faith community. The children's ministry is built around what the parish calls Faith Formation, an intentional, curious, and creative approach to engaging Scripture and the wider world.
The signature program is Camp Imagine, a summer arts camp for young people that has grown into a year-round creative partnership. Through theater, dance, storytelling, puppetry, and visual arts, campers come together to imagine, create, and bring something extraordinary to life, guided by teaching artists, volunteers, and community leaders. The result, the parish says, is "much more than a finished performance. It is a community." In recent summers Camp Imagine has partnered with the Underground Performing Arts Collaborative (UPAC) on a week-long Puppet Theater Summer Camp for youth in grades 6 through 12, culminating in a public performance parade. A Winter Camp with similar themes follows each December, complete with an Adventure Day that sends campers out to follow giant magi puppets through Colonial Williamsburg in the morning and Christmas Town at Busch Gardens in the afternoon.
Camp Imagine tuition is set to $20 per child, with scholarships available. Good Shepherd is dedicated to safeguarding children and the elderly through Safe Church training, which is renewed every three years for staff, vestry, and key volunteers, and all staff are background checked.
Reaching Out: H.O.P.E. and a Network of Partners
Outreach is woven into the parish's identity. "Church is not just for its members," Good Shepherd says. "As people of faith, we want to make a difference in the lives of the people we encounter every day." The most visible effort is the H.O.P.E. Feeding Ministry, a partnership with the H.O.P.E. Foundation, Inc. (Helping Others Pursue Excellence). From May through November, the parish prepares and serves a meal for about 60 recipients each month in its own kitchen, packages it individually, and delivers it to two or three pickup stations around Norfolk. Every dollar raised at the annual Gingerbread and Jazz Christmas party is dedicated to H.O.P.E. Ministries, and the parish also collects shoes and coats for distribution at Thanksgiving.
Through the Norfolk Public Schools Faith-Based Partnership Program, Good Shepherd has grown a long-running relationship with Sewell's Point Elementary School, a school whose student body is over 90 percent military. Parishioners read aloud in classrooms, mentor individual students, serve as lunch buddies, and pitch in for Field Day, Science Fair, and Read Across America. The parish also contributes to a teacher thank-you fund and the principal's discretionary fund.
Other partnerships include Five Talents, which funds literacy, numeracy, business skills, and microenterprise training in a part of South Sudan where illiteracy is estimated at 90 percent; All God's Children, a United Methodist summer camp for children of incarcerated parents, for which Good Shepherd adopts a cabin each year; two Chanco Scholarships each summer to Camp Chanco in Spring Grove, Virginia; quarterly American Red Cross blood drives hosted at the church; and a deep collaboration with UPAC, which has its rehearsal space at Good Shepherd and is a partner on seasonal performances. The parish also hosts Rise Against Hunger meal packaging events.
The building itself is part of the mission. Memorial Hall and other spaces host two Girl Scout troops, Families to Families (a social network of families with deaf children), Lee's Friends (a cancer support nonprofit), The Chas Foundation (suicide awareness and prevention), High Tide AA meetings, and Loch-Meadow Kindergarten, which has been housed on the campus since the 1969 expansion. The parish rents its spaces to CHKD, garden clubs, Junior League, and a rotating roster of local civic and performing groups.
Wednesday Mornings and Friday Nights: Formation and Fellowship
Women's Bible Study meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. in the Good Shepherd Library. The hour uses a one-page Synthesis guide to spark discussion of the Gospel lesson from the upcoming Sunday, drawing on personal experience, questions, and insights from those who attend. No prior Bible study experience is needed, regular participation is encouraged but not required since each session stands alone, and the class is casual, non-judgmental, and conversational.
Fellowship takes a different shape at The Good Social, a casual evening of food and connection held periodically at parishioners' homes, with childcare provided and a kids' version of the gathering running at the church at the same time. Young Families Stay and Play offers a monthly playground meet-up after the Sunday service, and an annual Blessing of the Animals brings pets and people into the parish's outdoor Shirland Gardens for an outdoor worship service. Trunk or Treat fills the parking lot on a Sunday afternoon each autumn.
A Parish in Search of Its Next Rector
Good Shepherd is currently in transition. Fr. Bob Randall serves as Interim Rector while the parish searches for its next spiritual leader. Fr. Bob has been a priest for almost thirty years, leading parishes in Virginia Beach and South Alabama, and brings two decades of prior experience in engineering, manufacturing, and corporate management. He holds engineering degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Seminary. His emphases are joyful worship, adult formation, and a welcoming spirit. Inquiries about the open position are directed to Liz Villanueva with the Diocese of Southern Virginia at lvillanueva@diosova.org, and a Community Profile is available for those interested in learning more.
The parish is governed by a nine-member Vestry elected to staggered three-year terms and led by Wardens. Membership at Good Shepherd is unhurried: members attend faithfully, participate in the shared life and purpose of the parish, and contribute to the annual budget by making an annual financial pledge. The bulk of the operating budget is made up of those pledges, which pay staff, keep the lights on, and fund ministries.
Visiting Good Shepherd
Good Shepherd is at 7400 Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk. Sunday worship begins at 9:00 a.m., with the nursery open from 8:30 and livestream available for those at home. Wednesday Bible study is at 9:30 a.m. The parish office can be reached at 757-423-3230 or office@gsnorfolk.org. Online giving, flower dedications for the Third Sunday of each month, pledges for the coming year, and a password-protected Realm directory for members are all available through the church's online giving pages.
All people are welcome here regardless of race, gender identity, sexual identity, citizenship status, or religion, and the parish delights in throwing open its doors for a meal or a party. The work of the community is, in the words of Galatians, to make a careful exploration of who each person is and to do the creative best with their own life, beginning right here in Norfolk.