Planting Grant Missions: South Carolina faithful bless site of future church

Planting Grant

Priest James Bozeman and the faithful of Saint James Church here marked their patronal feast day with the celebration of the blessing of the newly acquired site on which their future church will be built on Thursday, April 30, 2015.

Joining them were Archimandrite Gerasim, Administrator of the Diocese of the South; Archpriest Marcus Burch, Chancellor of the Diocese of the South; Archpriest Thomas Moore, Dean of the Carolinas Deanery; Priest John Parker, Chair of the OCA Department of Evangelization; and Priest Christopher Foley, Priest-in-charge of Holy Cross Church, Highpoint, NC.

Planting Grant

Archimandrite Gerasim offered an inspiring sermon that illumined the true purpose for which God gives land to His people—to provide a place for His people to keep His commandments.

Saint James Mission was planted on April 30, 2012 with the blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Nikon.  Father James, who was assigned Priest-in-charge two months later, celebrated the community’s first Divine Liturgy on July 1, 2012.  The mission was initiated under the direction of Father John Parker and the efforts of three Beaufort families who met in a classroom of a local Baptist church.  Saint James—one of five mission communities receiving a Planting Grant from the Orthodox Church in America—has grown to 20 families who meet in a rented facility.

Planting Grant

“I am grateful to our parishioners for their support and vision for the future of our mission,” said Father James. “We began with a small handful of people, meeting in a borrowed space, and possessing very few of the things we needed to celebrate divine services. In less than three years, through the support of our local sister churches, our deanery and diocese, and the OCA’s Planting Grant, God has regularly provided for our mission’s needs. By His grace, Saint James is becoming a true ‘Church family’ with a vision not only for a beautiful building on a beautiful piece of land, but for Christ’s name to be proclaimed in its fullness here in Beaufort and in coastal South Carolina.”

Along with a goal of raising funds, breaking ground and building within the next five years, Father James and his parishioners continue to focus on missionary outreach in Beaufort and in building on this foundation a strong, growing and spiritually healthy Church community.