The influence of the Anglican faith in Georgia began when General James Edward Oglethorpe established the colony in 1733. Before the American War for Independence (1775-1783) Anglicans composed the largest and most influential group of Christians in Georgia.
James Oglethorpe was a member of the British Parliament in the 1720s. By establishing the Georgia Colony, there were three goals the British could secure: (1) deal with the "worthy poor" who at the time were incarcerated for indebtedness, (2) form a political and military buffer between the Spanish in Florida and the British colonies in Virginia and the Carolinas, and (3) obey the Great Commission given the Church by Jesus to make disciples of all nations by converting the Native Americans to the Christian faith.
Among those traveling with Oglethorpe was the influential Anglican Priest Thomas Bray, founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Foreign Parts. The charter establishing Georgia as a colony was formalized in 1732 under a Board of Trustees. One-fourth of the twenty-one Trustees were clergy.
The first priest selected by the Trustees was a volunteer, Henry Herbert. He sailed with the original colonists reaching Georgia in 1733. Herbert founded Christ Church of Savannah, "the Mother Church of Georgia" as the first Anglican parish in the new colony.
Perhaps the best-known Anglican priest in Georgia history is John Wesley, appointed by the Trustees to serve as rector of Christ Church in 1735. George Whitefield was another early Anglican missionary priest to Georgia. He gained fame for his eloquent sermons and departure from staid liturgical Church of England rites. Although he was rector of Christ Church, Whitefield devoted much time and energy to the founding and supporting of Bethesda orphanage.
By the 1770s more than half of Savannah's residents were Anglican. In Georgia we can affirm that Anglicanism is that expression of Christianity that truly is the "faith of our fathers" and mothers as well.
