History of St. Andrew, the First-Called, Orthodox Church

St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, traces its beginnings back to the summer of 1996. A handful of dedicated believers gathered together in the living room of Father Mark and Susan Wallace to begin a mission of the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Our passion for Christ was demonstrated through our expression of worship with sincere interest in how the Ancient Church practiced it; not knowing that the Orthodox Church still worshiped this way.

During those years, our theological foundation was being strengthened by Orthodox theology but there were "spiritual tremors" threatening us. The "fault line" had nothing to do with the sacraments, scriptures or spiritual gifts; it had everything to do with functioning under true spiritual authority. Just having a "paper trail" showing some type of apostolic succession was not enough. Father Mark realized that we had to be in a living relationship with those who have received "the faith that has been once delivered to the saints."

On the next to last day of 2006, Father Mark sought a meeting with Father Constantine Nasr, of St. Elijah Church. Their discussion moved quickly toward the possibility of our congregation establishing a mission of the Western Rite Vicariate within the Antiochian Archdiocese. Although Father Mark was convinced of his move to The Orthodox Church, he could not presume that the rest of our congregation would also follow.

In February, 2007, a special series of classes for inquirers, taught by (then) Subdeacon Ezra Ham was arranged. Father Mark also taught our congregation (during the normal service times) why we needed to join ourselves to the Orthodox Church. Eventually, the consensus of the members of Holy Trinity Charismatic Episcopal Church was to follow him into Holy Orthodoxy.

Our former parish had its only Sunday worship service at 6:00 pm on Sundays. This allowed us to begin attending St. Elijah's worship on Sunday mornings. While several of our members began to attend in February, we continued to meet as Holy Trinity CEC until our last service on March 25, 2007. On May 6, 2007, fifty-two of us officially became catechumens.

A few weeks later, with Bishop BASIL's blessings, (layman) Mark Wallace started serving Matins and Vespers of the Western Rite in the chapel of St. George at St. Elijah's. We continued to immerse ourselves in the catechesis of the Church and our group was chrismated on January 13, 2008. The following week, Mark Wallace was ordained a deacon and then a priest on January 20th and 21st respectively. The St. Andrew Orthodox Mission Church was officially birthed as Father Mark celebrated his first week of liturgies.

By the fall of 2008, the congregation of St. Andrew Orthodox Church hopes to be occupying our own temple of worship in rented space. Thank God for His Grace in leading us to the True Church!