Settlement of the Nansemond River region was first attempted in 1609, but permanent settlement was not established until 1630.  Part of the permanent settlement was the establishment of a Parish of the Anglican Church.  The Anglican Church was the established church in Colonial Virginia and the Vestry (governing board) had civic as well as religious duties.  The religious duties were the usual duties associated with any established church.  Among the civic duties were care of the poor, the establishment of land titles and collection of taxes.

    In 1642, the area was divided into three parishes, Upper, Lower and Chuckatuck.  In 1640, a gentleman named Percival Champion had donated 450 acres to the Anglican Church.  Since the donated land was in the Lower Parish, a frame church was built on this land, called the glebe, about 1643.  The only record of this church was a entry in the Vestry book, which stated that the church was in "ruinous condition" and that a new church should be built.

    In 1725 the Lower and Chuckatuck Parishes were united to form the Suffolk Parish since they could not independently support a minister.  There was, at the time, a church in the Lower Parish and one in Chuckatuck Parish.  Services continued to be held in both churches.

    As stated in the Vestry book, in 1737 the church on the glebe land was in "ruinous condition" and a new church was ordered to be built.  The land on which the church was to be built was a part of the lands and cash donated in 1676 by Richard Bennett, his grandson Richard, and Thomas Tilly.  The church was begun in 1737 and completed in 1738 and was known as Bennett's Creek Church.  Originally the entrance was in the west wall of the building, facing Bennett's Creek, and the altar was at the east end of the building.  The outside measurements of the building were 48 feet 6 inches by 25 feet 4 inches and the walls were 20 inches thick.  The church has been altered several times since then.  It was enlarged in 1759 with the addition of an L-shaped north wing.  The church fell into disrepair by 1812 and the ruined north wing was torn down and the original building was repaired in 1856.  The entrance was changed to the east end when the north wing was demolished, but it was on the south side of the church.  This door was replaced by a window and the door was moved to it's present location around 1898.

    Two interesting events involved the civic duties of the Vestry of the church.  In 1758 the Vestry of the united parish, Suffolk Parish, was temporarily dissolved by an act of the Virginia Assembly at the request of the people of the former Lower Parish.  The Vestry had voted to relocate the poor who lived in the are of the former Chuckatuck Parish to the area of the former Lower Parish.  This was instigated so the these people could be recipients of money held in trust for the poor of Lower Parish, a trust that was established before the union of the Lower and Chuckatuck Parishes.

    In 1764 the Virginia Assembly passed an act for the ministers and people to be exempt from tolls when crossing the Nansemond River to attend church services.  The tolls were part of the income of the church.  The Suffolk Vestry sent a committee to Williamsburg and succeeded in having the act repealed, allowing only the minister to cross without paying a toll.

    In 1754 Parson John Agnew was appointed Rector of Bennett's Creek Church by the Bishop of London (a British Crown appointment).  When the trouble with Great Britain began, Parson Agnew was a zealous supporter of the British cause and open in his condemnation of the growing spirit of independence in the colonies.  In the spirit of 1775, he urged all to attend church on a particular Sunday.  That Sunday, the church was full and a large crowd stood outside the church listening through the open windows.  The topic of Parson Agnew's sermon was "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's"; he proceeded to denounce the sins of disloyalty and rebellion.  In the middle of the sermon William Cowper, a vestryman and magistrate, left his seat in the pew and mounting the pulpit, ordered Parson Agnew to sit down.  "I am doing my Master's business", said the Parson; Cowper replied "Which Master?  Your Master in heaven or your Master over the seas?  You must leave the church or I will use force."  "I will never be the cause of breeding riot in my Master's house", said Parson Agnew.  He stepped down from the pulpit, walked through the crowd to his carriage and drove away.  This was the first open defiance of the British Crown on the south side of the James River.

    Parson Agnew never again entered the church he had served for 20 years.  He joined the Canadian forces and was later taken prisoner by the French.  Major William Cowper, popular for his stand for the Revolution was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1776.

    After the Revolutionary War, the Anglican Church was disestablished.  An act of the legislature in 1802 required all glebe lands to be sold and the proceeds turned over to the poor.  The overseers of the poor in Suffolk Parish claimed the lands, but the Reverend Jacob Keeling, rector of Bennett's Creek Church, carried a case through the courts in 1817 and won an exemption of the glebe lands of Bennett's Creek Church.  He argued that the lands were the gift of a private individual and not a grant from the King of England.  These lands are still in the possession of the church and from which the church gets its name.  Glebe is believed to be the only colonial church still in possession of its glebe.

    The silver used for many years was willed to the church by John Yeats in 1731.  He was a gentleman of means and very interested in public education.  His will provided the means to support two free schools in the parish (which continued until the Civil War) and "the pulpit cloth, the silver flagon, and silver chalice, and silver placy..." for the church.  The silver, during the last part of the 19th century, was kept at the house of Richard H. Beamond.  The house burned to the ground in 1895 and the silver was destroyed.  The remnants are on display in the church.  Mr. Beamond had the ill fortune to have another set of communion silver in his house in 1920 and again this house and church silver was destroyed by fire.

    On Sunday, November 27, 1932, six oak trees at the edge of the property were planted and registered by the American Tree Association as trees planted for the George Washington Bicentennial Tree Planting, 1732-1932.  There are two trees of the original six remaining.

    In 1958 it was decided that a parish hall was needed.  Money for the hall was raised through church suppers and bazaars for a parish hall and it was built.

    In 1974, the patriotism of Major Cowper was remembered with a special service.  A commemorative plaque, displayed in the church, was dedicated by Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr.  Thirty of Major Cowper's descendents from all parts of the country were present.

    In 1938 and 1988, special commemorative services were held for the 200th and 250th anniversaries of the church.

    In February 1998, at the Council of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, the Suffolk Parish was dissolved and The Glebe Church, Bennett's Creek Parish was formed.

    In 2003 it was decided that the parish hall was too small to accommodate the congregation.  A new parish hall was planned and the provides a nursery, classrooms, commercial kitchen, and a large meeting hall.  Funding was obtained and construction started.