St. George's Church (Queens)

St. George's Church is an intercultural, multilingual Episcopal congregation in Flushing, Queens, New York. with members from over twenty different nations of origin. A landmark church, it has served an ever changing congregation for over 300 years.HistorySt. George's was organized in 1702 as a mission of the Church of England by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The group consisted of the Rev. George Keith, the Rev. John Talbot, and the Rev. Patrick Gordon, who was sent to be the missionary to Jamaica, Queens. Keith, a former Quaker, went into Flusing's Quaker Meeting House in September 1702, announced his presence as a missionary, and engaged in both preaching and debate. This happened several times, and the subsequent early history of St. George's is intertwined with the history of Grace Church in Jamaica, which was where the first Rector, the Rev. Patrick Gordon, resided. Gordon was succeeded in 1704 by the Rev. William Urquhart. Urquhart held services in Jamaica one week, and would then rotate the following weeks to Flushing and then Newtown (now Elmhurst). The community in Jamaica grew into Grace Church; the one in Flushing became St. George's; and the one in Newtown became St. James.