When safety issues closed the Kings Highway Bridge in 2005, the economic and social fabric of Chuckatuck and other North Suffolk communities felt an impact.

The spiritual fabric wasn’t spared either.

St. John’s Episcopal Church lies past the Crittenden Road turnoff on Kings Highway. It’s a section much less trafficked since the bridge went.

When the bridge existed, St. John’s averaged between 70 and 100 worshippers every Sunday, the Rev. Les Ferguson said.

“There were a lot of young families and young children — and the energy that went along with it,” he said.

Once vehicular traffic on Route 125 no longer traversed the Nansemond, the distance between St. John’s and Glebe Episcopal, its onetime sister church, went from two miles to 10 miles.

The Crittenden Road intersection became considerably busier, and the road past St. John’s — for most folks, at least — became a road to nowhere.

“Today, our average age in the parish is closer to 66,” Ferguson said. “There are four children, who are not regular attendees. Now, we have between 10 and 20 people” on Sundays.

A series of candlelight events with guest speakers, which Pastor Greg Ryan of Oakland Christian Church kicked off last week, seeks to introduce or reintroduce — whichever the case may be — folks to St. John’s.

Dubbed “Twilight at St. John’s With,” the free, space-limited Sunday events are accompanied by light refreshments, with brief tour of the church grounds following.

The location — whether the 1755 church itself, or the much younger church hall — is bathed in the glorious light of the setting sun, while candles augment the special atmosphere.

“It’s always an hour before sunset,” said Meriwether Ball, event coordinator. “Everybody’s home for dinner — though their bellies may already be full,” she added.

It’s more about acquainting folks with an important historical location, Ball said, than populating the pews on Sunday. Though that wouldn’t go astray.

Limestone laid up the center of the church was ballast discarded from British ships upon arrival to the colony of Virginia, Ferguson said. During the Civil War, he added, Union troops stabled horses inside.

Identified in 1637, Ferguson said the church’s parish once extended from the Chuckatuck Creek to the Nansemond River and from Reid’s Ferry to the James River.

“They were responsible for the health and welfare of the community,” he said.

“They took care of the widows and orphans, and made sure taxes were taken fairly and people treated each other fairly.”

During this Sunday’s Twilight event, from 4:30 p.m., the Rev. Ileana Rosario, pastor at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, will share her “amazing story of faith” and “perhaps exiting recent travels,” according to Ball.

Ball said the plan is to continue the event until summer, though it won’t occur on some Sundays when other events are planned.

“It won’t only be clergy,” Ferguson said. “That’s just where we are starting.”