The Rev. Furman Buchanan to Lead Christ Episcopal Church, Mt. Pleasant
The Right Reverend Ruth Woodliff-Stanley has called the Rev. Furman L. Buchanan as priest-in-charge of Christ Episcopal Church in Mt. Pleasant, which will likely be the second church returning to the Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church as a result of the SC Supreme Court decision in April 2022. Fr. Buchanan will lead the first services reopening Christ Episcopal Church, currently planned for mid-September.
Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley looks forward to introducing Fr. Buchanan to the Lowcountry. “I’m delighted to welcome Father Buchanan and his family to our Diocese,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Furman brings strong skills in church growth rooted in a deep faith. He is a reconciler and a gifted leader. I look forward with joyful anticipation to an exciting new season at Christ Church.”
Ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina in 2007, Fr. Buchanan has served as rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, SC, since 2010, and previously served as both associate rector and priest-in-charge at St. Martin’s in the Fields Episcopal Church in Columbia, SC.
A native of Barnwell, SC, and a published author, Fr. Buchanan is passionate about leadership, preaching, liturgy, church growth, teaching, and pastoral care, and he is looking forward to the opportunity to reopen Christ Episcopal Church in the heart of Mt. Pleasant, one of the largest cities in the state.
“For the past 16 years I have been blessed to work alongside parishes which are healthy and willing to take risks and make sacrifices in order to grow spiritually and numerically,” said Fr. Buchanan. “When congregations and their clergy are willing to follow Jesus’ way of love, miracles of compassion happen regularly and the Holy Spirit’s fruitfulness is evident all around. My 12 years of experience with St. Peter’s, Greenville, has clearly revealed to me what a healthy and vibrant congregation looks like; and I will be sharing this same hopeful vision with the people of Mt. Pleasant.”
Fr. Buchanan and his wife, Kim, have three adult daughters. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Wofford College in 1989 and worked for a public relations firm in Columbia, SC, for 13 years before discerning a call to ordained ministry. He received his Master of Divinity from the School of Theology at the University of the South (Sewanee) in 2006.
Details are still being finalized on Fr. Buchanan’s first Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church, Mt. Pleasant, and will be shared as soon as possible. Originally built in 1708, the historic Christ Church Parish was one of the first churches in the Diocese of South Carolina. In addition to the smaller, historic church building, the 26-acre campus includes a larger and more modern sanctuary, dedicated in 1996. Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant, is located at 2304 Highway 17 North.