A B O U T U S
Our Church
Saint Thomas Church Anglican is a parish on the Eastside of Greenville with a simple vision: to be a common people who are captivated by God’s beauty and compelled to join his story of renewal.
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Our Story
How we began as a church plant and are growing into a parish rooted in the Eastside, led by our Vision and Rule of Life.
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Our Name
Why we bear the name of Thomas the Apostle, and how his story shapes ours.
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Our Tradition
What it means to participate in this ancient faith and belong to a global family shaped by Scripture, Sacrament, and Prayer.
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Our Leaders
Meet the people who shepherd and serve at Saint Thomas Church.
Our Story
Saint Thomas Church Anglican began in 2021 when Village Church Anglican, affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas, began to pray and plan for a church plant. The goal was to establish an Anglican parish on the Eastside of Greenville—a place of worship, prayer, and community that would be rooted here for the long haul.
From the beginning, we held onto a Vision that continues to shape us:
A common people—We believe God delights in gathering ordinary people. Like the first disciples, we come with weaknesses, questions, and hopes, and we find our belonging in Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:26–27)
Captivated by God’s beauty—We long to dwell in the house of the Lord, to gaze on His beauty most explicitly revealed through Jesus Christ, and to be renewed by it (Psalm 27:4).
Compelled to join His story of renewal—The gospel is not just about private faith but about God making all things new. We are invited to participate in that story here in Greenville and beyond (Revelation 21:5).
To help us live into this vision, we embrace a Rule of Life, simple commitments that orient us to learn the love of God for us.
Communal Worship — gathering around Word and Sacrament, rooted in an ancient faith practiced through the Anglican way. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” — Acts 2:42 (ESV)
Interdependent Living — enjoying our diversity, bearing one another’s burdens, and seeking the welfare of our city.“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2 (ESV)
Sacrificial Generosity — offering ourselves and our resources for the sake of others. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” — Hebrews 13:16 (ESV)
This story is still unfolding. We are no longer only a planting church. We are becoming a parish family on the Eastside, seeking to live in the reality of God’s Kingdom for the benefit of our neighbors.
Our hope is that you find Saint Thomas Church to be a place of welcome, prayer, and renewal.
Our Name
St Thomas the Apostle
We bear the name of Thomas the Apostle because his story is woven into ours. In John 20, after the resurrection, Thomas would not believe until he saw the risen Lord for himself. In mercy, Jesus came to him and showed His hands and side. Thomas answered with the words that have echoed through the centuries:
“My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
Thomas shows us that questions and doubts have a place in the journey of faith. Jesus did not turn him away. Instead, he met Thomas with love and truth. In the same way, we want Saint Thomas Church to be a community where seekers and skeptics feel free to come, to listen, and to encounter Christ.
The Mission of Thomas
The story of Thomas also includes a mission. Tradition tells us that he traveled farther than any of the other apostles, carrying the gospel to India. The one who once hesitated became a faithful witness of the risen Christ. His life tells us that Christ can take our questions, meet us in our weakness, and send us out with strength and purpose.
Why “Church” before “Anglican?”
Our name also carries the word “Church” before “Anglican.” This is deliberate. We are first and foremost the Church, a local gathering of Christ’s people, rooted in Word and Sacrament. The word Anglican describes the stream of the Christian tradition we belong to: historic, global, and prayer-shaped.
This ordering reminds us that our primary identity is found in Christ and His Church, while our Anglican heritage guides how we live out that identity. To bear this name is to live with honesty before God and to walk with courage into the world. Like Thomas, our prayer remains: “My Lord and my God.”
Our Invitation
Bring your questions, bring your hopes, and come worship with us.
Our Anglican Tradition
Saint Thomas belongs to the Anglican Church in North America, part of a global family of more than 80 million Christians. Anglicanism is both ancient and renewing. It is rooted in the earliest centuries of the church, shaped by the English Reformation, and alive today on every continent.
At its heart, Anglican life holds together three treasures:
Scripture — the Word of God as our highest authority.
Sacraments — outward and visible signs of God’s grace, especially Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.
Prayer — a common life shaped by the Book of Common Prayer, which gathers us into worship with Christians across centuries and cultures.
Anglicanism is sometimes described as a “via media,” or middle way. This does not mean compromise. It means living in the richness of both catholic and Reformed traditions: holding together reverence and joy, tradition and renewal, rootedness and mission.
Our name reflects this heritage. We say “Saint Thomas Church Anglican” because our first identity is as the Church, the people of God gathered around Word and Sacrament.
The word Anglican describes the stream of the Christian tradition we belong to: historic, global, and prayer-shaped.
Being Anglican at Saint Thomas Church
For us, practicing our faith in the Anglican tradition means that worship is not invented week by week but received as a gift. It means that our prayers are not only our own but shared with Christians throughout the world and time. And it means that our life together is part of something much larger than ourselves.
“One canon reduced to writing by God himself, two testaments, three creeds, four general councils, five centuries, and the Fathers in that period… determine the boundary of our faith.” — Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626)
Our invitation to you: come and see the beauty of historic, global, prayer-shaped worship — and find a home in it.
Rev. Mike Juday,
Vicar and Planting Pastor
Saint Thomas Church is shepherded by clergy and lay leaders who serve in preaching, music, children’s discipleship, hospitality, and prayer.
Mike Juday is the planting pastor of Saint Thomas Church Anglican in Greenville, South Carolina. He brings more than a decade of pastoral experience shaped by worship, discipleship, pastoral care, and the steady work of forming healthy church communities.
Mike previously served for ten years as Executive and Music Pastor at Scarlet City Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked closely with the lead pastor and elders to shape weekly liturgy and preaching, train and develop leaders, shepherd congregants through membership and pastoral care, and guide the church’s organizational and financial life. His ministry experience includes preaching, pre-marital counseling, worship formation, staff leadership, and the development of systems that support the long-term health of the church.
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He holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity School for Ministry and completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education through the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, deepening his formation in pastoral presence and care. Mike was ordained to the diaconate in June 2023 in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.
In addition to parish ministry, Mike works as an Operations Specialist with Auxilio, supporting churches with financial systems, staff policies, and organizational clarity. Mike and his wife, Emma, are the parents of four children. Together, they are committed to a life of faith rooted in hospitality, shared rhythms, and attentive presence to God’s work in ordinary life.