“To know God, grow with one another, and serve God in a caring community of faith.”

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Barrington Hills, Illinois is a church with a rich past and a congregation poised and hungry for a changing future. Born in 1954 from a group who sought a liturgy centered around the regular use of Morning Prayer, St. Mark’s has grown to be a medium-sized parish serving the greater Barrington area including neighboring towns such as Algonquin, Fox River Grove, Cary, Lake Zurich, Crystal Lake and Palatine.

Additionally, St. Mark’s is the home of St. Mark’s Day School, a pre-school and kindergarten rated the “hottest day school in Chicagoland” by North Shore magazine.

Who we are and who we aspire to be can be summed up in three words; Believing, Belonging, Becoming.

Believing – At St. Mark’s we share a deep, yet sometimes quiet belief in the power and grace of Jesus Christ. Our lives are enriched by experiencing God through the low Anglican tradition and St. Mark’s provides a unique and beautiful place for respite and renewal.

Belonging – The people of St. Mark’s are an extended family of all ages. We warmly welcome those who visit and we exhibit our community of faith by caring for others and sharing our evolving histories.

Becoming – We seek to become a viable and vibrant Christian force in the future. While we embrace our longtime members, we welcome new parishioners from all walks of life.

We seek more faith-driven opportunities to come together and we seek individual and collective opportunities to spread enthusiasm for God’s work throughout our parish family and beyond.

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ST. MARK'S HISTORY

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church was founded by four families with the vision to form an Episcopal church in the area whose liturgy would be low or moderate in nature. The first service of Morning Prayer was held on March 28, 1954. On October 5, 1954, the Bishop recognized us as a mission.

With the coming of The Reverend Charles Grier in January 1955 as “priest-in-charge” St. Mark’s began to grow. While Reverend Grier led the congregation, five acres of land was acquired in what was then called Countryside and we moved into our first church building on May 20, 1956. That original church is now the parish and rector’s offices. The current rectory was completed in September 1957. St. Mark’s, with only nineteen families, grew and continued as a mission until early 1959 when we were granted status as a parish within the Diocese of Chicago. The Reverend Thomas Phillips was called to St. Mark’s on August 3, 1959 after the retirement of Reverend Grier. In 1963 the current church building was built contiguous to the original church. The current church has a seating capacity of 163 with pews in the nave and an additional 44 in the balcony. Below the sanctuary is a fellowship hall and kitchen. Reverend Phillips served St. Mark’s until September 8, 1964 when he resigned to return to a church in Duluth in his home Diocese of Minnesota.
The Reverend John Peterson accepted the call to St. Mark’s and held his first service on March 7, 1965.

St. Mark’s Day School for pre-school children was founded in November 1966. The St. Mark’s Day School has gained an exemplary reputation for excellence and was named the “hottest day school in the Chicagoland area” by North Shore magazine in 2006. The education wing was completed in March 1969 to house the growing day school and church school. In 1979 Reverend Peterson accepted a call to a church and school in Tampa, Florida. During the search for the new rector, Will Billow and Janice Walker were priests-in-charge until 1980. The Reverend Herbert Barrall served as rector from 1980 until his retirement in 1986. In July 1986 The Reverend Dr. Richard Muir came to St. Mark’s from Massachusetts. In January 1991 Dr. Muir left St. Mark’s to join the staff at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. After a lengthy interim period lead by The Reverend John Seville, The Reverend George Hull joined St. Mark’s in 1993.

St. Mark’s marked its first 50 years on March 28, 2004. We actually celebrated the milestone for an entire year. During that period all past rectors were invited to individually return to St. Mark’s. During those reunion weekends we were able to re-establish old ties with our former rectors and enjoy their leadership during Sunday services. We also took the time in 2004 to reflect about who we are and where we were going by conducting an all-parish survey. From the survey results we were able to develop our unique positioning
line; Believing, Belonging, Becoming

In 2006 we acquired the five acre property directly south of the church. Since then we have been working to develop our vision and future plans for the property.

Following the retirement of The Reverend George Hull in 2007, The Reverend Dr. George Martin served as interim rector for ten months. The parish is currently lead by Interim Rector The Reverend Mary Tudela. She will serve until the arrival of our permanent rector, David A. Gibbons, which is anticipated to be mid-August the fall of 2008.

St. Mark’s Church has been a leader in the Barrington community throughout our history. For example, the highly successful CROP Walk, which is an all-community effort to fight world hunger, was started by the people of St. Mark’s. And as we look to our future, we are excited to write the next chapters of our history not only within our community of faith but in our community and in the world.