Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2014 Issue | 页面 16

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‘Sacred Center’of Community

Buck Blanchard and Emily Cherry
St. Peter’s, a mission congregation in Richmond’s Church Hill
neighborhood, is a small group with a big heart. For over 150
years, members of St. Peter’s have worshipped together.
But recently, illness and deaths have led to a decline in the
congregation. And they wanted to find new life in the church
and community.

“We knew it was time to revamp and to extend,”
said Olivia Brown, senior warden, “and to reach out to our
community.” So the parish leaders got together with their
interim vicar, the Rev. Bruce Birdsey, to create an intentional
plan to breathe new life into the congregation.

Most of the members don’t come from the surrounding
neighborhood. Engaging those neighbors was a big part of
the plan. “We want to be a vision of faith to the community,”
said Brown.

And so they’ve partnered with the nearby Peter Paul
Development Center to host a food b