COVID UPDATE
We are open for worship with Holy Communion! Join us at 8:30 or 11:00am on Sunday mornings. We follow CDC guidelines with regards to COVID mitigation. Our current guidance can be found here.
Current rates in our area are as follows (updated 3/25/2023):
James City County – Low
City of Williamsburg – Low
York County – Low
Since COVID rates are “low” in our three main communities and we seem to be past our community’s “mini-surge,” masks are optional in our building at this time. We always encourage you to monitor yourself for flu (and COVID) symptoms and stay home if you are experiencing any.
For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. ~Matthew 18:20
2023 Holy Week Services
Palm/Passion Sunday (4/2) – 8:30 & 11:00 AM, services will include the procession with Palms, Holy Communion, and a Narrative Reading of Matthew’s Passion.
Maundy Thursday (4/6) – 7:00 PM at St. Stephen, this service will include individual prayer, footwashing, Holy Communion, Stripping of the Altar and a sermon by the Rev. Darlene Jackson.
Good Friday (4/7) – 7:00 PM at St. Martin’s Episcopal, this service includes the bidding prayers, the procession of the cross, the solemn reproaches, and a sermon by the Rev. Jon Nelson.
Easter Vigil (4/8) – 8:00 PM at St. Stephen, this service includes processing the paschal candle, the Easter Vigil readings, and an Affirmation of Baptism. Following this service will be a small celebration with strawberries, sparkling cider, champagne, and s’mores.
Easter Sunday (4/9) – 8:30 & 11:00 AM, services will include the Easter Proclamation and Holy Communion. There will be a potluck breakfast between services.
Our 8:30am Sunday morning worship services are live-streamed on our YouTube channel. Links to our weekly Sermons can be found on our Services page and the Bulletin can be found on our Bulletins page.
If you have found our services helpful, please consider donating to St Stephen. You can find the many ways to donate by going to our Giving page.
About Us
Pastor Jon Nelson and our entire community of faith welcomes you to St Stephen!
We are young and old and middle-aged. We are families with babies, retirees, students and faculty and staff at the College of William and Mary, couples and singles. We are school teachers and health care workers. We are parents raising children; people working at Colonial Williamsburg, in the community or some distance away; and people serving in the military. We are people who have grown up in Williamsburg and people who come from all over the country. We are regulars and tourists and visitors.
We are part of the mission and ministry of the wider church through our denomination, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Do not be put off by the word “evangelical” in our denomination’s name. We are actually the open and affirming American Lutheran denomination. If you have been hurt in a judgmental church, here you will not be judged. We affirm with St. Paul that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, and we welcome all who are seeking God, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious affiliation.