A Founding on the Feast of Epiphany
In 1979, a group of Episcopalians from Westlake Village and Agoura, supported by the Diocese of Los Angeles, began gathering with the hope of planting a new Episcopal mission in the Conejo Valley. On January 6, 1980, the Feast of the Epiphany, 134 people arrived at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westlake Village to celebrate the beginning of this new venture. When the supply of communion wafers ran out, the lemon cake meant for the coffee hour was broken up and used as a substitute, and the cake has held a place of affection in the hearts of Epiphany's founders ever since.
The congregation found temporary quarters at White Oak Elementary School that July, furnishing a portable altar, credence table, lectern, and seasonal hangings with a hundred prayer books and hymnals donated by member families. In March 1987 the parish purchased a hilly corner at Kanan Road and the future Churchwood Drive. Parish surveys made one desire plain: a traditional Episcopal church with a steeple. By January 7, 1996, that permanent home was dedicated and consecrated, and the Church of the Epiphany settled onto its hilltop site in Oak Park.
Sunday Worship: The Holy Eucharist at Ten
The principal weekly service is the Holy Eucharist, celebrated every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in person and online. The church describes the Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, a family meal for Christians and the most powerful symbol of the inclusive love of God. Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith, the parish extends an open welcome at this table.
Visitors are invited simply to be present with the congregation in this ancient liturgy and let the rest of the assembly carry them in worship. During the distribution of Communion, anyone is welcome to receive the sacrament or a prayer of blessing; ushers and congregants are happy to answer questions. Assisted listening devices are available from the ushers in the back of the church. Children are welcome, and their sounds are treated as a gift from God; a prayground at the back of the church holds quiet activities for parents with younger children who want to stay in worship. Children ages 3 through 11 may also join the Atrium for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program in Mitchel Hall, returning to the sanctuary for Communion.
Immediately after the service, the parish gathers for Coffee Hour in Bishop's Hall with coffee, lemonade, and donuts - a long-standing tradition of hospitality and fellowship.
A Sanctuary Steeped in Beauty: Windows, Organ, and Red Doors
Epiphany's building holds treasures from two earlier congregations. The church is the beneficiary of gifts from the Church of the Ascension in Tujunga, which offered its baptismal font, altar silver, sterling silver procession cross and torches, linens, vestments, and twenty-four stained glass windows when that parish was being deconsecrated. The windows were entrusted to Judson Studios for safekeeping, and Walter Judson later designed the surrounding clear glass and the building itself, working with his assistant Cindy Voorhies, now a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles. The windows depict scenes from the life of Christ, including the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Escape to Egypt, the Boy Jesus in the Temple, the Healing of the Blind Men, the Triumphal Entry, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Good Shepherd, along with David playing the lyre for Saul and Saint Cecilia, patroness of musicians.
The music is anchored by an instrument with an even longer history. The E. & G.G. Hook Organ Opus 505 was originally built in 1869 for the Greene Street United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, raised by the ladies' auxiliary at a cost of $3,000. After the church closed and fell into disrepair, organ collector Robert B. Whiting purchased the instrument and commissioned Patrick J. Murphy & Associates to restore it to its original splendor. The Epiphany congregation completed the purchase in spring 1999 through the efforts of organist Carol Foster and Vicar Canon Hank Mitchel, and installation finished in the fall of 1999. The organ enjoys a front center position in an acoustically excellent room.
The front doors of the church are painted red. The church draws on the Episcopal Handbook's explanation: red is the color of Christ's blood, the symbol of the martyrs' sacrifice, and the sign of the Holy Spirit's presence. Historically, red doors marked churches as places of sanctuary where no one could be harmed or captured. Today, Epiphany sees its red doors as a sign that this is a place of refuge, healing, and restoration for anyone who chooses to enter.
A Welcoming and Inclusive Community
The Church of the Epiphany's published inclusion statement affirms that all are welcome: people of every race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, differing abilities, socioeconomic class, or age. No one is denied rights, status, or access to an equal place in the life, worship, and governance of any program or activity. The parish's marriage canons are fully inclusive of both same-gender and opposite-gender couples, and its canons on Holy Baptism are likewise open.
Before every gathering, the community offers a Land Acknowledgement remembering and honoring the Chumash people, on whose ancestral land the church now stands. The acknowledgement gives thanks for the Chumash witness on how to live an honorable, humble, and respectful life in relationship with the environment, and asks the gathered community to remember that the Earth does not belong to us, that we belong to the Earth, and that all peoples are relatives in life.
Music and the Epiphany Music Guild
Music is a central ministry of the parish. The Music Ministry preserves and passes on the Church's great musical heritage of hymns and anthems while exploring new music becoming part of the Church's wealth, choosing music to fit the scriptural themes and seasons of the liturgical year. Two choirs serve the parish: the Parish Choir, open to anyone of high school age or older, and the Epiphany Schola, a select chamber choir specializing in music for small unaccompanied ensembles. The Parish Choir sings at most services each year and leads Evensong services and Services of Contemplation and Prayer in the Style of Taizé. Rehearsals run Thursday evenings from 7:45 to 9:15 p.m. between September and May, including time on vocal technique, musical skills, and fellowship. The Schola leads services roughly a dozen times a year, including Evensong, Compline, and the Easter Vigil, and joins the Parish Choir for Advent Lessons and Carols, Christmas Eve, and Easter.
The Epiphany Music Guild, a separate donor-supported organization, presents a regular series of concerts and artistic events in the church, opening the space to the wider community as a venue for encountering beauty. Recent seasons have featured period-instrument ensembles, duets of duduk and oud, jazz-classical fusion quartets, and vocal soloists accompanied by piano, alongside liturgically shaped services such as Choral Compline and Advent Lessons and Carols.
The Music Director and head of the Music Guild is Jay Wilcox, who came to Epiphany in September 2014 after 34 years of service to churches in Northern Virginia. He is a published composer and holds the Colleague certificate from the American Guild of Organists.
Children, Youth, and the Atrium
Children's Formation at Epiphany follows the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori-based approach described as a meeting place of the mystery of God and the mystery of children. Children gather in the Atrium, a quiet, focused, beautifully prepared space more like a children's chapel than a classroom, where everything is child-sized and ordered toward simplicity and dignity. Catechists present selected passages of scripture and liturgy that call forth the child's response rather than pour in information, asking together, God, who are you? How do you love us? The children meet in the Atrium at 9:45 a.m. and return to the sanctuary for Communion; on the last Sunday of each month, they remain in church and are encouraged to sit in the front pews to see for themselves what they have experienced in the Atrium.
For teens, the Epiphany Youth Group meets on the last Sunday of each month at 11:30 a.m. The youth group welcomes seventh through twelfth graders and their friends for fellowship, pizza, spiritual exploration, and community service within and beyond the parish. Laurie Burns, who has been on staff at Epiphany since 2001 and an active member since 1988, directs Children's Formation and youth ministry and serves as a Lay Eucharistic Minister and catechist.
Adult Formation: Bible Study, EfM, and Bishop Curry
Adults at Epiphany have several ongoing formation opportunities. Feeding the Spirit Bible Study meets Wednesdays at noon for an hour in the Founders' Room, exploring upcoming lessons for the week and the themes within; participants are invited to bring lunch. On Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., the parish watches and discusses The Chosen, the multi-season television series based on the gospels.
For those seeking longer-term theological grounding, the Education for Ministry (EfM) program offers a structured four-year curriculum through the School of Theology at the University of the South, helping participants examine their own beliefs and their relationship to the Christian tradition in order to live more effectively as ministers in daily life. Epiphany also hosts a five-session study of Bishop Michael Curry's book Love is the Way, with reflections recorded by clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese.
OWLS, Grief Support, and Pastoral Care
The Older Wiser Laity, or OWLS, brings together parishioners and community members aged fifty and above for monthly luncheons on the second Thursday from October through May, gathering from noon until 2:00 p.m. for a catered lunch and a varied program of dramatic presentations, musical performances, lectures, faithful learning, current-events discussions, games, and celebratory events. A $15 donation is suggested for each lunch.
For those experiencing loss, the parish hosts a grief shared, a monthly support group that meets on the last Tuesday of each month from 11:00 a.m. to noon in Ascension Chapel. The group welcomes anyone experiencing loss in its many forms, including ambiguous loss, and is facilitated by Laurie Burns. A Pastoral Care Team supplements this ministry, reaching out to parishioners who are sick, recovering from surgery, or experiencing other life changes through calls, visits, and occasional meals.
Outreach in the Conejo Valley and Beyond
The parish describes its outreach as a response to the grace and love given in Christ, reaching out locally, nationally, and globally. The signature local partnership is Laundry Love, run jointly with New Hope Lutheran Church. On the last Tuesday of each month from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., volunteers gather at the Coin Op Laundry on Avenida de Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks to provide quarters for washers and dryers, detergent, and dryer sheets, along with crafts and books for children, so that low- and no-income families can wash their clothes and bedding with dignity.
Epiphany also supports Harbor House, a local interfaith effort offering referrals, case management, and resources for those struggling with employment, housing, and well-being in the Conejo Valley, and the Conejo Compassion Coalition, which connects volunteers with disaster relief and grassroots poverty work locally and internationally. Creation Care, led by Mary Mendenhall, gathers parishioners and neighbors for earth stewardship and occasional spiritual hikes. The parish also participates in the annual Crop Walk to raise money to alleviate hunger in the Conejo Valley and around the world, and supports Episcopal Relief & Development and Holy Family Services through fellowship-friendly fundraisers.
The Interfaith Ministry builds bridges with people of other faiths and cultures through guest speakers, educational programs, and joint service projects with partners like the Conejo Valley Interfaith Community, the Conejo Valley Refugee Team, and the Women's Interfaith Network, grounded in the Golden Rule and the parish's mission to serve the world with gratitude, humility, and courage.
The Red Door Vineyard
The Red Door Vineyard Guild is one of the most distinctive ministries of the parish. The vision of a few members of the choir and Bishop's Committee, the Guild was formed in 2011. The vineyard, planted in the spring of 2012, sits on the hillside above and behind the church buildings and consists of nearly five hundred vines. Members are invited to dig, tend, trim, weed, harvest, crush, and bottle together, deepening their connection with their inner selves, the church community, neighbors, the earth, and the universal. Membership is open to all who share in the work and gifts, with benefits scaled to the level of giving. Each year the Guild shares its harvest with members and tithes a minimum of ten percent of its wine back to the church.
The vineyard's name picks up the symbolism of the red doors: a place of safety, refuge, and reconciliation, gleaming with the warmth of welcome and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Sacraments and Milestones
Epiphany celebrates the central sacraments of the Episcopal Church. Holy Baptism is offered throughout the year, on designated Sundays, and at the Easter Vigil, with preparation and rehearsal for parents beforehand. Holy Matrimony is fully inclusive of both same- and opposite-gender couples and is treated as a physical and spiritual union entered within the community of faith. For funerals and memorial services, the clergy and staff walk alongside families through the planning process and provide pastoral support.
The west side of the church, adjacent to the Memorial Garden, holds a Columbarium, a place of interment for the cremated remains of parishioners and family members, with names drawn from the Latin word for dovecote as a symbol of God's spirit and peace. Memorial Garden bricks can be engraved to honor a loved one, commemorate a milestone, or give thanks, becoming a permanent part of the parish grounds.
Clergy, Staff, and the Bishop's Committee
The Rev. Jamie Barnett has served as Vicar of the Church of the Epiphany since 2021, after a successful career as head of CBS Studio Center's grip department. She has called the parish into conversation about how it can grow and where it can be creative and collaborative, pursuing all of it with excellence. The clergy through Epiphany's history include a long line of vicars and priests-in-charge beginning with the Rev. Edward David Eagle in 1980, with the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor serving as Bishop Diocesan through 2026 and the Rt. Rev. Antonio José Gallardo Lucena as the current Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Jay Wilcox serves as Music Director and head of the Epiphany Music Guild. Laurie Burns, an MFT, directs Children and Youth Ministries and facilitates the grief shared group. Maria Aguilar is Sexton, Nick Pontcicelli serves as Livestream Coordinator, Erica Hurlburt is Church Administrator, and Natalie Komlos-Zeiler is Bookkeeper. The Bishop's Committee includes wardens, treasurer, clerk, and representatives overseeing ushering, finance, stewardship, worship, music, young adults, and buildings and grounds.
Core Values and Vision
Epiphany's mission is to ensure that all who enter its doors know that they are loved, welcomed, and celebrated unconditionally, that the parish serves the world with gratitude, humility, and courage, and that it continues to grow in faith, recognizing reason and exploring the profound mystery of God's creation. The three core values that guide the parish are Radical Love, Joyful Service, and Faithful Learning, lived out as touchstones for prayer, discernment, ongoing conversation, and action.
The parish is a registered 501(c)(3) organization supported by pledges, offerings, and a wide variety of giving options including online gifts, stock donations, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, and legacy gifts. Members can also volunteer in any of dozens of lay ministries, from acolytes and altar guild to ushers, lectors, lay Eucharistic ministers, the flower guild, the holy hosts who organize shared meals, and the pastoral care team.
The church office is open Tuesday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with the sanctuary also open during those hours for private prayer or meditation. The Vicar's office hours run Tuesday through Thursday by appointment. The Sunday 10:00 a.m. service is livestreamed on the parish Facebook page and YouTube channel, and memorial services are livestreamed as well.