About us

History

St. John's Episcopal Church is located in historic Cumberland, Rhode Island, in the Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor, and is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, the Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf, Bishop.

Our roots extend back to June 1857 when the Reverend T.J. Warner, rector of a nearby Episcopal church, held a preaching service in the Ballou Schoolhouse in Cumberland, the first service of what was to become St. John's Church, and also organized a Sunday School. By 1865, the schoolhouse became too small to house the growing congregation. The Lonsdale Company, owners of a local mill, built a temporary chapel, and the building was first used for worship on July 22, 1866.

The cornerstone of the present St. John's Church was laid two years later, on July 17, 1868. The church, a one-story, late Victorian plain Gothic structure, was built at a cost of $6,000. The Reverend Daniel G. Anderson was appointed the first resident minister. The Lonsdale Company remained the mainstay and support of St. John's Parish for many years. When the company closed its mill in 1935 and began to withdraw from the community, title to all church property passed to the Diocese of Rhode Island, and St. John's Chapel became St. John's Church.

Under a succession of rectors, notably the Reverend William Pressey, who served as rector for forty-two years from 1893 to 1935, St. John's grew and prospered. In 1907, the chapel built by the Lonsdale Company was transformed into St. John's Parish Hall. Our first organ was installed in 1894, and was replaced by the present one in 1919, which was given in memory of those who served in World War I.

During the tenure of the Reverend William F.E. Juhr (1968-1986), the spiritual, educational, and fellowship ministries of St. John's included a nursery school, Sunday School, choir, Vacation Bible School, picnics, Christmas pageants, the Episcopal Churchwomen, the Junior and Senior Fellowships and a Boy Scout Troop.

Our present rector is the Reverend Jeffrey A. Jencks. Father Jeff, who came to St. Johns' in 1987, is the church's twelfth rector. He is also a Rhode Island National Guard Chaplain, and served in Kuwait and Iraq from March 2003 to April 2004. During his absence, the Reverend Richard T. Laremore (Retired) served as our Interim Rector. And in December 2002, the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island appointed Mary L. Hitt as our church's first deacon in its 134-year history. Deacon Mary served as our Deacon until February 2008.

On December 15, 2004, with the approval of our Bishop, Geralyn Wolf, Saint John's entered into a yoking agreement of shared ministry with Saint Martin's Episcopal Church (Pawtucket). Four months later, Bishop Wolf officially installed Father Jeff as the Rector of both parishes in a service at Saint Martin's.

Father Jeff was called back to active duty in 2005 and is serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, which began in October 2005. During this absence, the Rev. Richard C. Shippee served as Priest-in-Charge of Saint John's and Saint Martin's. With the end of the Yoking Agreement on August 31, 2006, Father Richard became the Priest-in-Charge solely of Saint Martin’s, and Saint John’s was served by supply clergy until Father Jeff’s return from Iraq in October 2006 and the resumption of his duties as Rector in November.

For more information, please see the History Section of St. John's sesquicentennial website, as well as the Archive Section there also.