About St. Mary's
view 2008 Rector Search profile

Brief History
Founded in the late 1940s by six families as the Lakes District Episcopal Sunday School, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church has grown into a thriving faith community of nearly 600 parishioners. Originally housed in a rented doctor’s office above the Clover Park Drug Store, our church and school now occupy an attractive campus on Gravelly Lake Drive, just across from Clover Park High School and adjacent to the Lakewood branch of the Pierce County Library.

St. Mary's People
St. Mary’s parishioners are diverse in age, income, and background and are engaged in the life of the church. Our proximity to Ft. Lewis Army and McChord Air Force bases means that we regularly welcome new military families into our church family. While a significant number of our parishioners have been a part of St. Mary’s for years, the regular influx of military and other members ensures that St. Mary’s remains a dynamic center for worship, outreach, and education.  

Services
The worship of Almighty God and the fellowship that results are at the core of St. Mary’s. The Mass at St. Mary’s is both ancient and modern in that parishioners enjoy services that include both traditional (Sunday @ 8:45 am) and  contemporary music (Sunday @ 10:45 am).  Chanted prayers, sound preaching and an emphasis on youth participation also serve to enhance our deeply prayerful and vital worship experience.  Worship also occurs at our Wednesday Mass @ 10:00 am and Compline (pronounced comp-lin), which is a beautiful, popularly attended contemplative worship service that occurs on the second Sunday of each month @ 9:00 pm.

Education
St. Mary's Youth Christian Formation includes Sunday School, Kids for Christ (KFC) and Rite 13 for pre-teens. The focus of St. Mary's adult education program is faith formation, with emphasis on bible study, prayer and support groups.  The Adult Forum (Sunday @ 10:10 am in the Parish Hall during the academic year), the Adult Catechumenate (classes begin every October), various workshops, retreats, and other special classes are also offered.

St. Mary's Christian School -- adjacent to the church -- is a central ministry of St. Mary's.  Small by design and Christian by choice, the school features multi-age classrooms from pre-school through 5th grade.