Our Church is named for St. Elizabeth who was the wife of Zachary (or Zachariah) a priest in the Temple (Luke 1:5-25, 39-45, 57-66). Despite the belief that she was barren, Elizabeth became pregnant late in life and gave birth to John the Baptist.
 
     She holds the honor as first to recognize Jesus as Christ, even in the womb of Mary. The spelling was tweaked in honor of the lovely and caring wife of Bishop Theodore Barth, Elisabeth. The Dean of the Cathedral of St. Mary's, William E. Sanders, named the mission church in honor of Mary's distant cousin, honoring an ancient relationship in the present.
 
     We are named for the mother of the great baptizer and prophet; we are dedicated to a beloved wife and friend; and we are linked to the patron saint of pregnant and expecting women. As a result, we strive to be a community that brings forth a declaration of God's wonder and love in this world; a gathering that is dedicated to being a thoughtful, caring friend; and a church that is brimming with expectation as we welcome Christ in the guise of both stranger and friend.


     In what was once an outlying area of Memphis, Tennessee, a rural area of dairies and farms called Raleigh, laymen from St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral purchased land. With the urging of Bishop Theodore Barth and Dean Sanders, they founded a mission.
 
     On Sunday, July 3, 1960, Bishop Barth declared “…the Mission of St. Elisabeth's is formed.” The Rev. Walter Thomas, a deacon, was appointed the first leader/Vicar. He, with those early mission members, made an old house into a church and school. With the blessing of St Mary's Cathedral, plans for a new building were approved and on Oct. 4, 1962, Bishop John Vander Horst dedicated the new St. Elisabeth's.
 
     As the congregation has grown in numbers, dedication, and spirituality, several members have become priests. When established in 1960, St. Elisabeth's was on the edge of the small town of Raleigh, since annexed by Memphis. In 2005, St. Elisabeth's congregation moved several miles east to the city of Bartlett, Tennessee where most of the members now live. We are currently planning to build a new building and hope to continue to add to our growing and thriving community of faith.


     The Episcopal Church is a nation-wide community of churches organized into local, geographically based communities known as a Diocese (Diokesis in Greek, meaning “administration”). Each of these areas is governed by the ancient and biblically attested office of Bishop (Episopoi in Greek). Thus, the very name of our denomination reflects our structure. We are a community of churches under the authority and administration of a Bishop.
 
     St. Elisabeth's thrives as a member of The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee. The Right Reverend Don Johnson is the third Bishop of the Diocese. Our diocese is headquartered in downtown Memphis at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral (Kathedra in Greek, meaning “seat” or “chair”- thus all Cathedrals feature a Bishop's seat).
 
     St. Elisabeth's is one of thirty-four parishes in the Diocese. The Diocese is one of over one hundred in the United States. The Episcopal Church of the United States of America is one of nearly forty independent national churches which together form the world-wide Anglican Communion, the second largest branch of Christianity. The spiritual leader of our Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and historic leader of Anglicanism.