St. Thomas Episcopal Church sits in the Great Bridge neighborhood of Chesapeake, Virginia, where it has been an Episcopal presence since the mid-twentieth century. The parish describes itself as a growing congregation that seeks to cultivate and spread God's love and God's word in Christ, and its motto - "All are Welcome, No Exceptions" - is repeated under each of its five stated core values. The church sits at 233 Mann Drive, a short drive from the Great Bridge locks, and is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.
Worship at the Table of God
Worship at St. Thomas is centered on the Eucharist. The parish locates its common life and worship around the table of God and teaches that the congregation is fed by Christ's true presence in the bread and the wine. Sermons are rooted in both scripture and current events. Children are welcomed into the life of the worshiping assembly rather than separated from it, and the prayer book tradition of the Episcopal Church shapes each service.
Two Sunday services are offered each week. The 8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist is a said Rite II service with hymns. The 10:30 a.m. service is also Holy Eucharist Rite II, this time led by the adult choir. Both services are open to everyone, and all who seek a relationship with Christ are welcome to receive Holy Communion. Those who do not take communion are offered prayers in their place. Lay Eucharist Ministers also carry Holy Communion to homebound parishioners on a regular basis.
Between the two services, from 9:10 to 10:10 a.m., the parish gathers for Christian formation. Children, youth, and adults meet at the same hour so that families can worship, learn, and return home together. The 10:30 a.m. service is livestreamed on YouTube so that those unable to attend in person can worship along.
One other liturgical moment fills out the week. Lay Pastoral Care live streams a fifteen-minute Tuesday Noon-time Prayer that anyone can join online.
From a Chapel of Ease to a Modern Parish
St. Thomas traces its roots to the first English settlers on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. In 1661, a "Chapel of Ease" was established under the umbrella of the Church of England to serve the growing population on the river. The Episcopal presence in the area lapsed after the American Revolution, when residents were no longer taxed to support the established church.
The modern parish was re-established in 1956 as a mission of St. Bride's in Chesapeake to serve the growing Great Bridge community. The first church building was a simple white frame structure that had been a gift from another church in Kempsville, on the condition that the new mission move it to the land it had purchased in 1961.
Growth continued through the 1960s. In 1970, Taylor Hall was built for fellowship and classrooms, named in honor of Dr. Norman Taylor, whose widow generously supported the building fund. Around the same time, St. Thomas provided the Great Bridge community with its first kindergarten, since none was available in the area's public schools. In 1975 the congregation moved from mission status to parish status. Work on the current church building was begun in 1992 and completed in 1993.
The nave and chapel are filled with stained glass windows, each one a memorial that represents God's presence and gifts in the lives of parishioners and loved ones.
A Music Ministry Built Around the Organ and the Choir
Music has long been a point of pride at St. Thomas. The music ministry features an adult choir, a handbell choir, choristers, guest soloists, and a string quartet. In 2013 an AG3200 Ahlborn-Galanti hybrid organ was installed in the balcony. The instrument blends classic design with modern technology, featuring eight ranks of pipes, custom casework, and wooden keyboards. It is powered by a Drake processor with 376 programmable voices and offers 62 total speaking stops.
The adult choir leads worship at the 10:30 a.m. service and at special services throughout the church year. Rehearsals are held on Thursdays from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. in the choir room. No audition or prior experience is required, and high school students are welcome.
The handbell choir is open to ringers age fourteen and up. Some prior musical knowledge is helpful, but anyone who played an instrument as a student is encouraged to try. Rehearsals are Thursdays from 6:15 to 7:05 p.m. in the sanctuary loft.
Choristers, the children's choir, is for singers in third through eighth grade. Choristers sing at the 10:30 service several times during the year. The program teaches children to sing, read music, and play chimes; helps them make friends at church; develops poise and confidence as worship leaders; explores a spiritual theme each month; and offers a way to serve God and others.
St. Thomas Strings welcomes violin, viola, cello, and bass players of all ages and abilities. Parish membership is not required. Beginners, teens looking for service hours, semi-professional players, and adults returning to an instrument after time away all have a place in the ensemble. The strings rehearse every other Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. and play in church about four times a year.
The music program is led by Director of Music Katherine Wright and Associate Music Director Julie Heard.
Formation for Every Age
The parish organizes Christian formation into three streams: adults, youth, and children, all meeting during the Sunday morning formation hour from September through May.
Adults have several recurring options. Episcopal 101 is an introduction to St. Thomas and the Episcopal Church, meeting after the 10:30 service with lunch and childcare provided. Wired Word, a weekly email-based curriculum, sends a lesson plan drawn from one of two current news stories and engages the Gospel in conversation with the headlines. A long-running Adult Bible Study has focused on the Gospel of John and meets on Tuesday evenings, Thursday evenings online, and Sunday mornings during the formation hour. A separate Women's Bible Study gathers on Thursdays to walk through books of the Bible together. A Sunday Book Study selects a book three times a year and discusses a chapter or two each week; no advance reading is required to participate. Each Lent the parish adds a special formation offering with worship, a chosen topic, and a shared meal.
Youth formation centers on two groups. B-DOG (Bold Disciples of God) is the high school youth group, and F3 (Faith, Fellowship, and Fun) is the middle school group. Monthly meetings are led by at least two adult sponsors and combine fellowship with service. Past activities have included carving pumpkins, assembling hundreds of sandwiches for people experiencing homelessness during the church's week hosting CAST, sponsoring an annual spaghetti dinner before the Chesapeake Christmas Parade, bowling nights, an Earth Day walk at Northwest River Park, attending a Tides baseball game at Harbor Park, and assisting with bingo at Chesapeake Health and Rehabilitation Center.
Children formation begins with the recently renovated nursery for infants through age five. Sunday School runs from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, meeting each Sunday from 9:10 to 10:10 throughout the academic year, led by parish volunteers who have completed Safe Church training. Vacation Bible School is offered for one week each summer, generally late July, for children preschool age three through completed fifth grade. A Communion Recognition Class for grades three to five has been offered in past years.
All volunteers working with children and youth at St. Thomas have completed Safe Church training.
Serving Neighbors Across Chesapeake
Outreach is woven into the life of the parish. The congregation supports an array of local ministries, ranging from food collection to overnight shelter to cooked meals delivered to elderly neighbors.
The Buffalow Food Pantry is a year-round ministry. A basket in the narthex collects donated food from anyone who wishes to drop something off. St. Thomas also supports the Children's Health Investment Program (CHIP), which serves children and expectant mothers through health improvement, school readiness, and self-sufficiency work; the parish helps with a spring baby shower for CHIP.
Through the Agape Feast initiative, an interdenominational volunteer organization supporting and housing homeless individuals and families in Chesapeake, the parish collects items for the Welcome Home program.
Twice a month, on the second Wednesday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and on the fourth and fifth Wednesdays, parishioners cook and serve meals at the Chesapeake Cares Resource Center on Steppingstone Square. On the fourth and fifth Thursdays of the month, other volunteers deliver Meals on Wheels to elderly and disabled recipients in Chesapeake.
The Chesapeake Area Shelter Team (CAST) is a coalition of faith-based organizations that operates an emergency overnight winter shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Chesapeake, rotating between church buildings and the Chesapeake Cares Resource Center. St. Thomas is one of the host churches during the cold months. During the parish's host week, youth and adults make sandwiches and provide meals for guests.
Each month the parish prepares roughly one hundred meals in its own kitchen for the LGBT Life Center. Volunteers meet at 9:00 a.m. on the third Tuesday of each month to cook, with the prepared meals delivered to the center. The LGBT Life Center strengthens LGBTQ+ communities and individuals living with HIV through health, family, and community programs.
A monthly Red Cross Blood Drive is hosted at the church, and Angel Tree supports children whose parents are incarcerated during the Christmas season. The Invite Welcome Connect Team works with the national Invite Welcome Connect initiative of the Episcopal Church to assess and strengthen how the parish invites newcomers, welcomes them, and helps them connect into the life of the congregation.
Parishioners also participate in Friends of the LGBT+, an affirmation and fellowship group that shows up at Chesapeake's Pride in the 'Peake each year and supports the parish's broader welcome.
Fellowship, Foyers, and Friends
Fellowship at St. Thomas takes many shapes. Foyer Groups are small gatherings that strengthen relationships within the parish family. The Daytime Foyer meets on the first Thursday of each month in Taylor Hall for a potluck meal, fellowship, a popular raffle, and the celebration of milestones. Women of St. Thomas gathers on the fourth Tuesday from September through May for crafts, service projects, and conversation. Men of St. Thomas meets regularly for fellowship, service projects around the parish, and outreach work in the wider community. The Men's Breakfast Ministry meets on the third Saturday of each month at 8:00 a.m. for food, fellowship, and faith.
Coffee Hour is one of the simplest and most meaningful ways the parish extends fellowship beyond the altar table. Hosts - individuals, families, or groups of friends - provide light snacks such as bagels, fruit, or donuts, while the church supplies coffee, tea, lemonade, and paper goods.
Needles & Threads is a craft group that meets in the parish hall on the second Saturday of each month. The group sews, quilts, knits, and crochets, working on projects for outreach as well as personal pieces. All skill levels are welcome.
Pastoral Care and Recovery
Lay Pastoral Care (LPC) is a lay ministry of trained parishioners who bring Holy Eucharist and prayer to parishioners in hospitals, nursing facilities, and homes. LPC members also send cards and make calls of comfort to those who are isolated or grieving. In addition to visiting, the ministry live streams a fifteen-minute Tuesday Noon-time Prayer each week that anyone can join online.
Recovery is a significant part of parish life. Several weekly recovery meetings are held at the church. AA meetings for men and women, and Alanon meetings, gather on weeknights and Saturdays. The meetings are open to anyone seeking them, regardless of parish affiliation.
Lay Leadership and Clergy
The parish is led by Rector Rev. Mark McKone-Sweet, a priest who grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, served in soup kitchens and shelters in Boston, and came to ordained ministry through the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. Before coming to St. Thomas, Mark served parishes in Natick and Dover, Massachusetts, and in Poway and San Diego, California, and served on the Standing Committees of the Dioceses of Massachusetts and San Diego.
Curate Rev. Jackson Davey grew up in Kalispell, Montana, came to the Episcopal Church in 2019, and was raised up for ordination through the Young Priest Initiative in the Diocese of Virginia. Jackson graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2025, where he served as president of PRISM, the LGBTQ advocacy group for students and staff.
Katherine Wright serves as Director of Music. A Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano, she holds degrees from Wright State University and the University of Puget Sound and the Colleague certificate from the American Guild of Organists. Julie Heard is the Associate Music Director, a collaborative pianist and church organist with a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University who has accompanied the Governor's School for the Arts chorus and directs Tidewater Music Academy.
Amanda Ipock is the Director of Communications and Ministry Support Coordinator. Donna Holub serves as Parish Administrator and Membership Coordinator. Michele Hershberger serves as Bookkeeper. Paulette Lassiter is a Licensed Lay Preacher with eighteen years of parish membership. Michele Weigle chairs the Invite Welcome Connect Leadership Team.
Worship Ministries that Make Sunday Possible
Behind every Sunday morning is a team of lay volunteers. Acolytes, the Altar Guild, Readers and Chalicers, the Flower Guild, Ushers, Greeters, and the Welcome Committee fill out the liturgy and the welcome at the door. The AV Team meets each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. to run audio, video, and streaming using OBS with a five-camera setup so that the service is shared both inside the sanctuary and online. The Buildings and Grounds team, including Landscaping and the Lay Weeders, cares for the property throughout the year. Finance and Stewardship work includes the Finance Committee, Endowment, Counters, Offering Tabulators, and the Annual Campaign Committee, all supporting the parish's fiscal life.
Time, Talent, and Treasure
St. Thomas frames stewardship as the personal response to God's blessings and work in our lives. The parish teaches that out of gratitude, members give back by sharing time, talent, and treasure to support spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, serving others, and taking care of God's creation. Each fall the parish invites members to make an annual pledge, an amount of money they promise to give over the course of the coming year, and to pray about that decision. For those who are able, the parish encourages a tithe of ten percent of income.
Online giving is available for one-time gifts, pledge payments, flowers, memorials, and the general fund.
Five Core Values
St. Thomas names five core values, each one followed by the same words: "No exceptions!" The parish is welcoming, inviting participation in worship, study, fellowship, and service. The parish is inclusive, intentionally creating a safe and affirming community in which all persons belong as unique children of God. The parish is prayerful, receiving and sharing God's grace through tradition, communion, and prayer. The parish is resilient, standing strong as a church family that adapts to life experiences and unforeseen changes. The parish is made up of servants who seek and support opportunities to serve the Lord by helping others in need, both within and beyond the community.
Practical Details for Visitors
St. Thomas Episcopal Church is at 233 Mann Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia 23322. The phone number is (757) 547-4662 and the office email is admin@stthomaschesapeake.org. Sunday services are at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., with Christian Formation for all ages from 9:10 to 10:10 a.m. between them. The 10:30 service is livestreamed on YouTube. The nursery is available for infants through age five. Visitors are encouraged to join the parish for coffee and fellowship after the later service.