Christ Church Christiana Hundred (Greenville, Del.)

Christ Church Christiana Hundred is an Episcopal church in Greenville, Delaware. It was founded in 1848 with the help of the du Pont family and Reverend Samuel Brincklé of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. For many years Christ Church served as a church for the du Pont family and their employees, but now serves a larger community.

In 1848, Alfred Lee, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, appointed Reverend Samuel Brincklé a missionary for New Castle County. As part of his missionary work, Rev. Brincklé preached on Sundays at the du Pont's Brandywine Manufacturer's Sunday School on the grounds of the Brandywine Gunpowder Works and during this time worked with the du Pont's to establish their own Episcopal Parish. In 1848 the corner stone was laid for Christ Church adjacent to the powder mills in Christiana Hundred and on May 4, 1856, Bishop Lee performed the first service at the church.

The closure of the Powder Mills in 1921 led to a significant decline in church membership. Though the church instituted bus service so as to expand church membership to a larger community, for the next twenty years, Christ Church remained a shadow of its former self.

With the appointment of Rev. William Capers Munds as rector in 1942, Christ Church entered a time of profound growth and positive change. Under Munds' rectorship, pew rentals ceased, the Vestry members began to serve on a rotating basis, a cross was placed on the top of the steeple, and in 1948 the church was finally consecrated. In addition, the congregation expanded and a new education building including a chapel was built.

Succeeding Rev. Munds in 1960, Rev. John O'Hear brought the church into the local community and onto the global stage. During the 1960s and 1970s, the church actively aided the larger Wilmington community. The West Center City Day Care Nursery provided day care assistance to families in the low-income, areas of urban Wilmington so parents could find jobs and the West Side Larger Parish, started in 1965, was a scholarship program meant to give financial aid to poor, young African-Americans aspiring to attend college.

In addition to providing aid for the communities in its immediate vicinity, Christ Church under Rev. O'Hear provided aid throughout the world. Beginning in 1963, the Campaign for Unmet Needs assisted parishes and dioceses throughout the world to provide basic needs such as church buildings, hospitals, transportation for ministers, funds for missions, schools, training centers for seminarians, water works, generators, equipment, and more. The Unmet Needs campaign operated on nearly every continent, though particularly in Southeast Asia, West Africa, Central and South America and even on Native American Reservations in the United States.

When Rev. Adam Lewis was appointed in 1983, the transition was a challenging one. Lewis' style differed from that of his predecessors and his preference for ceremony sometimes alienated the congregation which valued its Low Church traditions. Yet in spite of the difficult transition, Lewis served the parish for eleven years, leaving the rectorship in 1994.

Today Christ Church continues to be an active parish and to follow its mission to "share the beauty and the power of God's transforming love through our worship, community, and service in the world."

From the description of Records of Christ Church Christiana Hundred, 1831-1998 (bulk, 1888-1987). (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 430201767