Church of the Incarnation sits at 550 Mendocino Avenue in the heart of downtown Santa Rosa, a few blocks south of the intersection with Cherry Street. The redwood-framed building, completed in 1873, is the oldest church structure in continuous use in the city. As a parish of the Episcopal Church and a member of the Russian River Deanery within the Diocese of Northern California, Incarnation draws Episcopalians and newcomers from across Sonoma County for ancient liturgy, lively preaching, and a long-running ministry of hospitality to neighbors who are unhoused or hungry.
A Building Older Than the City Around It
Episcopal services in Santa Rosa trace back to 1860 or 1861, when Father William Jackson is credited as the first clergyperson to celebrate the Episcopal liturgy in town, meeting in private homes and buildings such as the Santa Rosa Academy. In 1868 a fledgling mission was organized under the Benicia Episcopal Mission, founded by the missionary James Lloyd Breck. The current building was begun in 1872 and finished in 1873; tradition has it that it was built from the wood of two redwood trees, at a total cost of about three thousand dollars. The church was declared debt free in 1876 and consecrated in November 1877. In 1885 the building was quartered and drawn apart to essentially its present size to accommodate a growing congregation. The parish was officially incorporated in 1895.
The building has its own history of resilience. During the 1906 earthquake the sidewalls bulged outward about eight inches off the foundation, yet the structure stood, and the church and the nearby rectory served as a hospital and morgue for a devastated city. From 1943 to 1953 ten Sisters of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal religious order, served the parish as Sunday School teachers, nursery day-school leaders, and even occasional organists. Much of the carving in the church, including the altar, choir stalls, reredos, and litany desk, was the work of two parish women, Augusta C. Collett and Anna Finlaw. The fourteen Stations of the Cross on the side walls were carved by the Santa Rosa artist Elwin Millerick; one of them, the soldier of the first station, disappeared during the Desert Storm War in 1990 while the church was kept open for prayer, and Millerick carved a replacement within a week.
A coast live oak tree on the property has been a gathering place for the congregation for generations, and it now stands at the heart of parish life as both a worship space and a place for fellowship after services.
Worship Around the Altar Table
Worship is at the center of life at Incarnation, and it follows the ancient pattern of the Book of Common Prayer. Two Sunday Eucharists anchor the week. The 8:00 a.m. service is a Simple Holy Eucharist, a spoken liturgy of about fifty minutes that includes classic Episcopal prayers, scripture readings, a sermon, and Holy Communion. The 10:15 a.m. Sung Holy Eucharist is the largest gathering of the week. It features hymns, prayers, scripture readings, a sermon, and Holy Communion, supported by the parish choir and organist. The liturgy usually runs about eighty minutes, and the service is livestreamed to Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube so those at home can pray along.
The first half of the service is the Liturgy of the Word, with readings from the Old and New Testaments and a sermon. The second half is the Liturgy of the Table, where the congregation shares in Holy Communion, believing that the bread and wine over which thanks are given become the Body and Blood of Christ. The presiding priest invites visitors to participate as fully as they wish, or simply to relax and let the gathered congregation carry them in worship.
On Tuesdays at 8:30 a.m. the parish gathers for Morning Prayer, part of the Daily Office that sets the Church's daily rhythm with appointed psalms and readings. On the second Friday of each month at 6:00 p.m. the church hosts Sung Prayer, a contemplative hour of singing and silence that draws on songs from the Taizé Community and other simple, repeated chants. Major Feast Days in the Church calendar are marked with a Holy Eucharist, typically at noon.
Clergy and Staff
Stephen Shaver has served as Rector since 2018, following eleven years of ordained ministry in California, Washington State, and Texas. A liturgical scholar, he completed a Ph.D. in liturgy at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and is the author of two books on Eucharistic language and theology. He has also served as a hospital and hospice chaplain and has trained leaders at the College for Congregational Development. He grew up in Korea, Pakistan, and Russia, and is an avid choral singer.
Bill Glenn serves as Assistant Pastor. Daphne Vernon is the Director of Spiritual Formation and oversees the ministry with youth and adults. Robin O'Brien, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, leads the Children's Chapel Musician ministry, singing and composing musical prayer and leading sung prayer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alison Cole is the Parish Administrator, and Eric Ramsey serves as Sexton. Three Priest Associates enrich the life of the parish: Gail Cafferata, Jamie Knutsen, and Ellen Wondra, who preach and preside on Sundays and at special services.
Children, Youth, and Adults
Incarnation describes itself as a community in which children are not just the church's future but an essential part of its present. Children are welcome in worship at any age, any time. Activity bags are available from the ushers, and baskets of quiet toys sit in the front pews on either side.
From infancy through preschool age, a professionally staffed nursery is available off the courtyard, opening at 9:00 on Sunday mornings and equipped with age-appropriate toys and an outdoor play area. All caregivers are rigorously trained and screened. During the 10:15 liturgy, preschool through elementary-age children may follow the Children's Chapel cross out of the sanctuary for a child-focused experience of the Liturgy of the Word, returning to the nave for Communion. During the school year, the parish offers Godly Play, a Montessori-inspired approach to Christian formation, on Sundays at 9:00.
Middle and high school youth meet one to two Sundays per month throughout the school year. Recent mission trips have taken the youth to El Hogar, an Episcopal ministry with disadvantaged children in Honduras, and to Pathways, the annual youth pilgrimage of the Diocese of Northern California. Older elementary, middle, and high school youth are also invited to be trained as acolytes, assisting the clergy in Sunday liturgy.
Adults find a range of formation offerings. The Sunday Forum gathers between the 8:00 and 10:15 services for talks on Scripture, theology, and issues of the day. Small group classes meet on weekdays, often using the Living Compass curriculum to focus on Advent, Lent, spiritual wellness, or aging. Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year lay theological education program developed by the University of the South, is offered for those who want sustained study. Bible study groups meet throughout the year.
Music and the Arts
Music holds a central place in the parish's identity. The parish choir and organist lead the 10:15 Sunday Eucharist, and the organ that fills the nave is a particular point of pride. Arts@Incarnation is the parish's arts ministry, dedicated to celebrating the artistic expression of spirit. Among its offerings is a twice-monthly contemplative gathering to sing the music of St. Hildegard of Bingen. Led by Devi Mathieu, who has been singing and teaching Hildegard's music for more than twenty years, the practice is open to everyone, with no musical experience required.
The Sunday Open Table
Each Sunday morning the church's doors open at 6:30 a.m. to welcome more than a hundred neighbors in for a hot breakfast. Most guests come from Santa Rosa's street community. Coffee, oatmeal, and cereals go out at 6:30, and a full hot breakfast is served buffet-style at 7:00. As guests finish, they are offered a brown-bag lunch to take with them for later in the day.
The Sunday Open Table is more than a food ministry. Volunteers sit and drink coffee with their guests, recognizing them as siblings in Christ. The parish also collects practical items for guests - bus tickets, ponchos, tarps, jeans, jackets and parkas, socks, tee shirts, underwear, gloves, and caps - which can be dropped off at the Welcome Center on Cherry Street, Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Donations of time and money are welcomed, and roles range from cooking and shopping to writing thank you notes or simply being present.
Heavenly Treasures and Other Outreach
Heavenly Treasures, the parish's gift and thrift store, occupies one of the parish buildings on Mendocino Avenue north of the church and helps fund outreach work. The Welcome Center and Gift Shop, located in Farlander Hall, also offers Fair Trade items, books, icons, jewelry, calendars, and cards centered on the Episcopal and broader Christian tradition.
Sacraments and Pastoral Care
The parish celebrates two primary sacraments of the gospel - Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist - along with other sacramental rites. Baptism is celebrated several times a year, at Easter, Pentecost, All Saints' Sunday in November, and the Feast of the Baptism of Christ in January, with baptisms at other times when necessary. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated at every Sunday service, and Reconciliation of a Penitent, the Church's sacramental confession, is available by arrangement.
Unction, the rite of anointing the sick, is offered to anyone in need of healing of body, mind, or spirit. Marriage is open to both same-gender and different-gender couples, who make vows before God and the Church and receive the Church's blessing. Christian Burial services are held for members and others, and the parish maintains both a Columbarium within the worship space and a Memorial Garden for the interment of cremated remains.
Imagine Incarnation
In 2024 the vestry officially adopted a Generational Campus Plan, the result of four workshops, a congregational survey, and meetings with architects Siegel & Strain and EinwellerKuehl. The plan is intended to guide the use of the parish's buildings and grounds for the next thirty to fifty years.
Imagine Incarnation: Renew and Rejoice is the capital campaign that takes the first step toward realizing that plan. Funded by pledges from parishioners and friends, the campaign focuses on revitalizing the parish's spaces so they welcome all, serve neighbors, care for creation, and glorify God. Likely early projects include accessibility upgrades to the church, renovations to Farlander Hall, and a reworking of what is now called Jerusalem Courtyard, the large paved plaza south of the church that has been underused in recent years.
Land Acknowledgment and Neighbors
In April 2025 the parish adopted an official Land Acknowledgment Statement. The church sits on ancestral Southern Pomo territory, and many parishioners also live and work in Wappo territory to the east, Coast Miwok territory to the south, and Kashia Pomo territory to the northwest. The parish commits to acknowledging the truth of California's history and to strengthening relationships with Native peoples as part of its baptismal covenant to strive for justice and peace.
What Believers Affirm
Incarnation teaches that God is love, that human beings are created to love and be loved, that Jesus is God revealed in a human life, and that the Holy Spirit inspires people to love and serve. The parish lives within the Episcopal tradition, which sits at the intersection of Catholic and Protestant Christianity: centered on the sacraments, ordered by the Book of Common Prayer and a line of bishops going back to the early Church, yet committed to the priesthood of all believers and to participatory decision-making. The congregation joins with Christians across traditions in reciting the Apostles' Creed at Baptism and the Nicene Creed at the Eucharist. People of every gender and sexual orientation are fully welcome in every aspect of the parish's life, and the parish seeks to serve those who are poor and vulnerable, to care for creation, and to work against racism.
Getting Here and What to Expect
Visitors will find the church at 550 Mendocino Avenue, just south of the corner with Cherry Street. The parish parking lot sits around the corner at 636 Cherry Street and often fills for Sunday services; additional parking is available in a small gravel lot at the corner of Mendocino and Cherry or in the city garage at 521 7th Street, where the first hour is free. Street parking is free on Sundays. The church is close to several bus lines and has a bike rack in the central courtyard.
An usher will greet visitors at the front door with a bulletin and can provide large-print bulletins, earpieces for hearing assistance, or help with mobility. People may sit anywhere, and the congregation is happy to share a pew. There is no dress code beyond what visitors feel comfortable in. After each Sunday service the parish hosts coffee and refreshments in Farlander Hall off the inner courtyard, and the Welcome Center in Farlander Hall offers information about the parish, a small gift, and a place to sign up for classes and groups.
The 10:15 Sunday service is livestreamed for those at home. Service bulletins are posted online for those who wish to follow along. Giving is available online, and the parish welcomes new members through a process that begins with conversations with the clergy.