Our mission is to cultivate space in New York City for seekers to authentically encounter God.
Recently I was in a conversation with a mentor about creating St. Peter’s mission statement. He asked me, “Who is showing up to St. Peter’s?” After some thought, I responded, “I think it’s people who feel like they don’t quite belong elsewhere.” It’s those who wrestle with questions and doubts and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and simple binaries. Those who have been burned by religion but haven’t given up on faith, on God, on truth and beauty.
In other words, seekers.
The heart of a seeker is longing. Longing for God, community, and wholeness, for themselves and for our world. They are seers, visionaries, prophets, poets, artists. There’s a restlessness in them for something more.
So here’s what we came up with for our mission statement: to cultivate space in New York City for seekers to authentically encounter God. We are living in an anxiety-filled, violent, dehumanizing time. It’s hard to breathe when you’re afraid. You feel constricted, unable to move. When you have space, you can relax, you can breathe, you can let your guard down. The real you can emerge from behind the armor you wear to protect yourself and encounter the real God. Not the fearful, judgmental God who is always watching to see if you are being good but the God who loves you and loves this world and is making all things new.
We are a part of that restoration. The space we’re cultivating at St. Peter’s is spiritual space, relational space and physical space - to hold the beauty and complexity of being human together. This is where encounters happen. Encounter with God, encounter with my true self, encounter with others. I see St. Peter’s like a community garden. You’re walking along the concrete sidewalk, surrounded by glass and steel skyscrapers when bam! Suddenly, there’s green. Flowers. Trees. A garden that has been carefully cultivated by loving hands, where living things can breathe and flourish and grow.
In a world where death gets the biggest headlines, we’re committed to cultivating life-giving space - for our church, the Chelsea community and New York City. in our city and invite you to join us. St. Peter’s has a beautiful history of being a “third space” for gathering (see history below). We are commited to continuing that legacy for our church, the Chelsea Community, and New York City and lean into our imaginations for what is possible in the season ahead. We welcome you to join us!
Christine Lee, Priest-in-Charge
Recently I was in a conversation with a mentor about creating St. Peter’s mission statement. He asked me, “Who is showing up to St. Peter’s?” After some thought, I responded, “I think it’s people who feel like they don’t quite belong elsewhere.” It’s those who wrestle with questions and doubts and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and simple binaries. Those who have been burned by religion but haven’t given up on faith, on God, on truth and beauty.
In other words, seekers.
The heart of a seeker is longing. Longing for God, community, and wholeness, for themselves and for our world. They are seers, visionaries, prophets, poets, artists. There’s a restlessness in them for something more.
So here’s what we came up with for our mission statement: to cultivate space in New York City for seekers to authentically encounter God. We are living in an anxiety-filled, violent, dehumanizing time. It’s hard to breathe when you’re afraid. You feel constricted, unable to move. When you have space, you can relax, you can breathe, you can let your guard down. The real you can emerge from behind the armor you wear to protect yourself and encounter the real God. Not the fearful, judgmental God who is always watching to see if you are being good but the God who loves you and loves this world and is making all things new.
We are a part of that restoration. The space we’re cultivating at St. Peter’s is spiritual space, relational space and physical space - to hold the beauty and complexity of being human together. This is where encounters happen. Encounter with God, encounter with my true self, encounter with others. I see St. Peter’s like a community garden. You’re walking along the concrete sidewalk, surrounded by glass and steel skyscrapers when bam! Suddenly, there’s green. Flowers. Trees. A garden that has been carefully cultivated by loving hands, where living things can breathe and flourish and grow.
In a world where death gets the biggest headlines, we’re committed to cultivating life-giving space - for our church, the Chelsea community and New York City. in our city and invite you to join us. St. Peter’s has a beautiful history of being a “third space” for gathering (see history below). We are commited to continuing that legacy for our church, the Chelsea Community, and New York City and lean into our imaginations for what is possible in the season ahead. We welcome you to join us!
Christine Lee, Priest-in-Charge
Our History:
St. Peter’s Chelsea is a historic congregation that was planted by the neighborhood residents, faculty and students who gathered at the General Theological Seminary for Sunday worship in the early 1800s. Like every family, we have a complex history!
The land on which St. Peter’s stands was originally inhabited by the Lenape tribe whose historical territory included the lower New York Bay. Like many native American tribes, they did not see the land as something to be sold as property but as something to be shared with others. They were ultimately driven west from the island of Manhatta by Dutch and British colonizers and were greatly diminished by disease, famine and war.
The family of Clement Clarke Moore (best remembered for creating the well-known poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas) came into financial control of the land. Their family estate covered the current parameters of the neighborhood of Chelsea. Moore inherited the property and donated a part of it to General and St. Peter's.
During the first half of the 19th century, St. Peter’s clergy was busy attending to the needs of those affected by the cholera and yellow fever outbreaks, as well as the arrival of thousands of immigrants fleeing unfavorable conditions in Europe. In the late 19th century, St. Peter’s organizations, run mostly by women, provided employment to needy women, ran an industrial school for boys, and provided many other programs and services vital to the community.
Throughout the 1960s, St. Peter's housed many of the city’s most active peace, arts, civil rights and unionizing organizations, including the national offices of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Black Women’s Liberation. Our outreach in the late 20th century focused on pastoral care to a growing number of New Yorkers with AIDS and their families.
In recent decades, St. Peter's members and finances dwindled significantly. In October 2019, the Diocese of New York embarked on a new missional initiative at St. Peter's, sending the Rev. Christine Lee and the Rev. Lisha Epperson with 20 new members from All Angels' Church and Church of the Heavenly Rest to join the existing congregation. In February 2020, the pandemic hit. While it was a challenging season, those early months brought out the best in St. Peter's - prayerfulness, emotional honesty, care, connectedness, creativity, scrappiness, a capacity to hold sorrow and joy together, qualities that still hold true today.
Like our patron saint, the apostle Peter, we love a good adventure with Jesus, stepping out of the boat onto the water to be with him wherever he leads. In this season of revitalization, we are listening for how Jesus is calling us to follow him in making all things new and invite you to join us!
And the One seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new!" - Revelation 21:5
St. Peter’s Chelsea is a historic congregation that was planted by the neighborhood residents, faculty and students who gathered at the General Theological Seminary for Sunday worship in the early 1800s. Like every family, we have a complex history!
The land on which St. Peter’s stands was originally inhabited by the Lenape tribe whose historical territory included the lower New York Bay. Like many native American tribes, they did not see the land as something to be sold as property but as something to be shared with others. They were ultimately driven west from the island of Manhatta by Dutch and British colonizers and were greatly diminished by disease, famine and war.
The family of Clement Clarke Moore (best remembered for creating the well-known poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas) came into financial control of the land. Their family estate covered the current parameters of the neighborhood of Chelsea. Moore inherited the property and donated a part of it to General and St. Peter's.
During the first half of the 19th century, St. Peter’s clergy was busy attending to the needs of those affected by the cholera and yellow fever outbreaks, as well as the arrival of thousands of immigrants fleeing unfavorable conditions in Europe. In the late 19th century, St. Peter’s organizations, run mostly by women, provided employment to needy women, ran an industrial school for boys, and provided many other programs and services vital to the community.
Throughout the 1960s, St. Peter's housed many of the city’s most active peace, arts, civil rights and unionizing organizations, including the national offices of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Black Women’s Liberation. Our outreach in the late 20th century focused on pastoral care to a growing number of New Yorkers with AIDS and their families.
In recent decades, St. Peter's members and finances dwindled significantly. In October 2019, the Diocese of New York embarked on a new missional initiative at St. Peter's, sending the Rev. Christine Lee and the Rev. Lisha Epperson with 20 new members from All Angels' Church and Church of the Heavenly Rest to join the existing congregation. In February 2020, the pandemic hit. While it was a challenging season, those early months brought out the best in St. Peter's - prayerfulness, emotional honesty, care, connectedness, creativity, scrappiness, a capacity to hold sorrow and joy together, qualities that still hold true today.
Like our patron saint, the apostle Peter, we love a good adventure with Jesus, stepping out of the boat onto the water to be with him wherever he leads. In this season of revitalization, we are listening for how Jesus is calling us to follow him in making all things new and invite you to join us!
And the One seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new!" - Revelation 21:5