Christ the King Church will celebrate its 15th anniversary as a church on Sunday, Sept. 11. Two services will be held, one at 8:30 a.m. and the other at 10 a.m.
Started as a prayer group with 19 people in a residence in Sharpsburg, the church held its first Sunday morning service at Carmichael-Hemperley Funeral Home in Peachtree City on the second Sunday of September 1996.
As the congregation continued to grow, the church purchased 11.5 acres on Ga. Highway 34 between Newnan and Peachtree City and, after slightly over six years in the funeral home chapel, the congregation met in its own sanctuary. Later, a fellowship hall and classrooms were added.
In addition to being a church plant, Christ the King has also been instrumental in the planting of three other churches: St. Matthew’s in Hogansville, Church of the Holy Cross in Fayetteville, and Christ the King Fellowship in Savoy, Ill. The church has sponsored mission trips to Uganda, Kenya, and the Philippines and supported a mission trip to Ireland. Christ the King was the first church in the denomination to join CEC for Life, a pro-life advocacy group of the Charismatic Episcopal Church.
Four of the clergy at Christ the King serve the community as law enforcement chaplains and one clergyman serves as a hospital chaplain.
In 2007, with the elevation of the founding pastor, Father David Epps, to Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-South (consisting of Georgia and Tennessee), the church received “cathedral” status. Bishop Epps has been a weekly opinion columnist for The Citizen newspapers since December 1996.
The guest speaker and celebrant for the 15th anniversary will be The Most Rev. Charles Jones of Selma, Ala. Jones serves as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Southeast and is the pastor of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Selma. He also serves as the bishop ordinary for the Diocese of the Gulf Coast and for the Diocese of the Carolinas. For many years, he was supervising bishop of the International Development Agency which saw explosive church growth in Africa.
The church is at 4881 Ga. Hwy. 34 East, Sharpsburg. Visit the website, www.ctkcec.org.
