The Episcopal Church in
Georgia began as a small
diocese of three
parishes in 1823:
Christ Church, Savannah;
Christ Church, St. Simons Island; and
St. Pauls, Augusta. Seventeen years later there were six churches as
Christ Church, Macon;
Trinity Church, Columbus; and
Grace Church, Clarkesville had been added to the earlier three churches. Christ Church, Savannah's pledge of $400 to the ministry in Clarkesville made the ministry of Grace Church possible and secured the six parishes necessary to elect a bishop. The six parishes met in Clarkesville in 1840 to unanimously nominate and unanimously elect the then 36-year-old
Stephen Elliott as the first Bishop of Georgia. In 1887-1888, Beckwith spent five months abroad preaching in Anglican Churches in Italy, France, England, Egypt and Palestine. He died November 23, 1890. Finding a successor for Beckwith proved difficult as the diocese was twice turned down by those elected to the office. First Thomas Gailor who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the
University of the South turned down the job after his election in May 1891. Then Ethelbert Talbot, Missionary Bishop of Wyoming and Idaho declined in July of that year. Both men cited their commitments to their present positions. Finally, on November 11, 1891, Cleland Kinchloch Nelson, rector of Church of the Nativity in
South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was elected. He accepted the position and was consecrated as the third Bishop of Georgia on February 24, 1892, at
St. Luke's Church, Atlanta. In February 1908 the Diocese of Georgia met in convention in Augusta and elected Frederick Focke Reese, rector of Christ Church,
Nashville, Tennessee. as the fourth Bishop of Georgia. That spring, poor health caused the newly elected bishop to take an extended leave of absence, resuming ecclesiastical duties April 1, 1909. During his tenure as Bishop, the missionary work of the diocese concerned the creation of new missions for blacks. By 1913, there were two predominantly black parishes in the diocese, St. Athanasius Church,
Brunswick and St. Stephen's, Savannah, as well as thirteen predominantly black missions. The ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia,
Henry I. Louttit Jr., was rector of Christ Church, Valdosta at the time of his election. He was consecrated as bishop on January 21, 1995. Louttit had long been interested in liturgical renewal and was involved in the creation of the Book of Common Prayer 1979. Under Louttit's leadership, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia has taken renewed interest in starting new congregations. He authorized the formation of the missions of St. Stephen's, Leesburg; Church of the Holy Comforter, Martinez; King of Peace, Kingsland; St. Luke's, Rincon, and the Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek. Louttit's father, Henry I. Louttit Sr., was the last bishop of the
Diocese of South Florida before it was divided into three new dioceses. The tenth Bishop of Georgia was elected September 12, 2009, in Dublin, Georgia and consecrated on January 23, 2010, at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center.
Scott Benhase was graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary. He served at parishes in Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia before he was called to be rector of St. Alban's, Washington, D.C. (Diocese of Washington) in 2006, where he was serving at the time of his election. Benhase's major initiative is the Campaign for Congregational Development, a capital campaign raising funds to enhance capacity in congregational growth and development, clergy and lay leader development, and leadership formation of youth and young adults. The eleventh Bishop of Georgia,
Frank S. Logue, was elected November 16, 2019, and consecrated on May 30, 2020, at
Christ Church, Savannah. This was the second of two church properties the Diocese repurposed during Logue's episcopacy after the congregations that had worshiped there disbanded. The first being the former Christ Church in Augusta which became the Byllesby Center. Today the Diocese of Georgia now covers the southeastern of the State of Georgia, running from the
Chattahoochee River west of
Americus to the
Savannah River north of
Augusta.
Savannah is the
see city. In February 2007, the Diocese of Georgia reported 18,651 communicants with an average Sunday attendance of 7,127 in its 71 churches. Theologically, the Georgia Diocese runs the spectrum from moderate liberalism to traditionalist conservatism. Generally, congregations are typically more conservative than their neighbors in the Atlanta diocese, but in most places, especially in small towns, they are often the most liberal religious alternatives available in their communities, which are usually dominated by Southern-style fundamentalist traditions like the
Southern Baptist Convention and the
Presbyterian Church in America. The first significant episode of
Anglican realignment activity in the diocese occurred when the rector and most of the congregation of Christ Church in Savannah left the Episcopal Church in 2007 to form
Christ Church Anglican. More recently, in August 2012, the parish of St. John's Episcopal Church, in
Moultrie, led by rector William McQueen, decided to leave the Episcopal Church to become St. Mark's Anglican Church of the
Anglican Church in North America. However, the diocese reorganized Christ Church with a basically new congregation in the early 2010s, and the town of Moultrie had another Episcopal parish for residents of
Colquitt County to attend, minimizing the trauma of those two defections. ==Bishops==