Our Story...so far

More than seventy years ago, much of the area around Lake Orion was farmland. In fact, the original part of the St. Mary’s building was originally a schoolhouse erected by the Scripps family to serve the families on their extensive farms, and later used as a barn. By the late 1940s, there was considerable interest in planting an Episcopal church in Lake Orion, and through the faithful vision and practical wisdom of a dedicated community, St. Mary’s settled into its current location.

St. Mary’s In-The-Hills was founded in 1952 as a Mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, in connection with All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Pontiac. We were received as a Parish of the Diocese in 1956, and we have remained a faithful witness, worshiping in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition for over seventy years.

Of course Lake Orion has changed a great deal since then, but the vision of a community shaped by prayer and a fellowship of mutual support remains the core of our church. We continue to ask where God is taking us and how God hopes to use us to heal a hurting world, while staying grounded in prayer.

In 2002, as St. Mary's celebrated our fiftieth anniversary, one of our parishioners, who remembers sweeping out the old building for use as a church, wrote a fuller history of how our parish was formed. Please click the link below to learn more.

This painting was commissioned in honor of a longstanding and faithful supporter of St. Mary's. The artist is Barbara Baker: www.barbarabakersartstudio.com.