Our Mission

St. Peter’s glorifies God the Father through knowing His Son, Jesus Christ, and making Him known, by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Our Vision

St. Peter’s is a community of God’s grace that fulfills Jesus’ commands to love God, love others, and share the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our vision is to be a community called by God to make disciples of all people, growing in faith and spiritual maturity, and transforming the world around us.

"And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'” (Matthew 28:18–20)

“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Mark 12:29-31)

Our Values

Biblical Teaching and Preaching

Since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), we are committed to teaching and preaching that has its authority firmly rooted in the Scriptures. We believe true biblical teaching and preaching is practical. We encourage all believers to be students of the Word of God.

Community

Acts 2:42 clearly teaches that community life (koinonia) is a central characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ; therefore, we are committed to using the resources of our community to meet one another’s needs with gladness and generosity by having regular fellowship at church and in homes, especially through sharing meals; providing a place of welcome, safety, respect, and mutual encouragement; and being an intentionally diverse community with regard to age, race, ethnicity, economic status, church background, and social background.

Discipleship

All Christians are called by the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) to be disciples of Jesus. As disciples, we are commanded to know Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; be disciplined by the Spirit in our personal lives: thoughts, emotions, decisions, relationships, and actions; and make Jesus known to others, that is, making and growing disciples.

Expectant Prayer

In Luke 11:1-13, Jesus tells his disciples that prayer is fundamental to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. We recognize that God is sovereign, but he uses our prayers, when offered in faith, to great effect (James 5:15-16). Therefore we are dedicated in prayer to invite God’s sovereign presence in our worship; seek God’s sovereign will and purpose in our decisions; ask for God’s sovereign power in our work; and open ourselves to greater works of God’s sovereign Spirit.

Family Life

God sets out his agenda for his people in Deuteronomy 6:4-9—we are to love God with everything that makes us who we are and teach our families to do the same. We see in Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:18-25 this has always been essential to God’s will for us. Because of this, we are committed to building strong families through enriching marriages; encouraging parents; providing age-appropriate discipleship and fellowship for children and youth; and integrating all ages into the work and worship of the church.

Healing

Healing is major part of the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Church (James 5:14-15). We believe that it is God’s will that all should be healed but the nature of that healing is entirely in accordance with God’s sovereign purpose. We seek the grace of his healing presence through prayer and sacrament for physical, emotional, and mental health; restoration of broken relationships; and repentance and revival in our broken world.

Leadership Development

In every generation, God calls leaders to raise up their successors. Moses raised up Joshua (Deuteronomy 31:14-23), and Paul raised up Timothy (Acts 16:1-5). Because of our special relationships with Beeson Divinity School and the Anglican Church in North America, and the number of business leaders we have in our community, we believe that God has placed a special call on St. Peter’s to develop biblical Anglican leaders, lay and ordained, for the 21st century.

Life

Knowing God is the Creator of every life, we seek to protect and preserve the sanctity of life for all people, from conception to natural death. St. Peter’s supports Anglicans for Life, a life-affirming body of the Anglican Church in North America.

Outreach

In Acts 1:8, Christ commands his Church to be his witnesses throughout the world, beginning in their hometowns (i.e., their “Jerusalem”). Our love for God and neighbor compels us to reach out beyond the boundaries of our church to share the Gospel through foreign and local missions, church planting, works of mercy, and intentional evangelism.

Three Streams

Anglicanism is often described as being Ancient, Scriptural, and Spirit-filled. Read “What’s Anglicanism?” below to learn more about these three.

Worship

John 4:23-24 and 1 Chronicles 16:29 speak of the ultimate priority of all believers:  worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness. Worship will be our eternal occupation and delight. Following the Lord’s command through the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 5:19) and the practice of the early Church (Acts 2:42), we worship following the ancient-future pattern of a mixture of ancient and contemporary liturgies and music.