A House of Welcome on Clinton Street
In the heart of Redwood City, just steps from the original downtown, St. Peter's Episcopal Church has gathered on Clinton Street for more than a century. Its present sanctuary, built in 1952 next to an earlier parish hall from 1925, sits among the older houses of worship in the city, a quiet witness to a congregation that traces its roots all the way back to 1864.
The welcome that greets visitors each Sunday morning is as deliberate as it is warm. At every service someone reads the congregation's adopted statement: "No matter who you are, or where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here." That sentence frames the gathering, and it has shaped the parish's identity through decades of change in the surrounding city.
Since 1864: From the Little Red Church to Clinton Street
St. Peter's is the second-oldest congregation in Redwood City and the second to construct a church building. Its founding rector, Father Giles Alexander Easton, had led the very first Episcopal service in town earlier in 1864, gathering worshippers in a room at the first county courthouse. He named the new parish after St. Peter's Church in Smyrna, Delaware, where he had been baptized and confirmed.
In 1867 the congregation built the "Little Red Church," a downtown landmark that served the parish for six decades. As Redwood City grew in the early twentieth century, the parish moved to its present home on Clinton Street between Broadway and Brewster. A parish hall went up in 1925 and doubled as both church and meeting space, until the present sanctuary rose next door in 1952. Classrooms and offices completed the campus as the postwar Baby Boom reached its peak.
The parish sees two "character traits" running through that long history: leadership and welcome. Among its founding members were many of the people who shaped the early Bay Area: government officials, doctors, business owners. But the doors were open to everyone then, and they still are.
The 10 AM Sunday Gathering
Sunday worship at St. Peter's follows a single weekly rhythm: one service at 10:00 AM, held in person and online. The liturgy uses the forms of The Episcopal Church, with readings drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year cycle of Sunday Eucharistic readings that the Episcopal Church adopted in 2006. The congregation moves through the seasons of the liturgical year - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time - with the readings, prayers, and hymns shaped accordingly.
For the time being, the parish shares only the bread at communion. St. Peter's follows the Episcopal Church's teaching that receiving one element is sufficient for full reception of the body and blood of Christ.
Music is central to the experience. The hymns draw on a wide range of styles, as varied, the parish says, as the community it serves. Volunteer musicians lead the singing each week, and anyone with musical gifts is invited to play. A bulletin is posted online so that those joining by Zoom or Facebook Live can follow along.
Worship in Two Languages
A second congregation shares the St. Peter's campus: El Buen Pastor, a Spanish-speaking specialized mission congregation of the Diocese of California. Founded in 2020 and led since then by the present rector, Rev. Dr. Pamela Stevens, El Buen Pastor now worships in the chapel at St. Peter's on Sunday afternoons. The two congregations share space, music resources, and a bilingual rector.
The arrangement reflects Rev. Pamela's own background. She is fully bilingual and bicultural, and she brings both callings together in her leadership of St. Peter's. For Spanish-speaking families in Redwood City and the surrounding Bay Area, El Buen Pastor offers Episcopal worship in their first language without leaving the Peninsula.
A Welcome Without Exceptions
St. Peter's sees itself as a community where doubt and belief sit comfortably side by side. The congregation extends a particular welcome to life-long Christians and to those totally uncertain about this whole religion thing, and to anyone who happens to be both at once. Questions, curiosity, and a searching spirit are treated as gifts rather than obstacles.
The welcome is explicit. People of all races, genders, sexualities, classes, abilities, and immigration statuses are embraced. The parish cherishes its diversity and sees it as part of its calling. In its own words, the congregation strives to respect and celebrate God's gift of the wonderfully diverse peoples in the city and the surrounding Bay Area.
After the Sunday service, the community gathers for an informal coffee hour in the Library. With snacks and drinks on the table, congregants check in about their weeks, share triumphs and defeats, and simply enjoy one another's company. The coffee hour is as much a part of St. Peter's Sunday as the service itself.
Formation: Listening for God's Call
Beyond Sunday morning, St. Peter's offers a formation program the parish describes with the phrase "God Calling." Formation, the rector explains, is a churchy word for listening to God's call for one's life: learning, listening, and shaping one's life toward God.
The program asks two fundamental questions: "Who are we becoming?" and "What is God asking of us at this time and in this place?" Members pursue those questions individually and in community, supporting one another as they grow in faith and practice.
Backpacks, Meals, and Hope Bags
Outreach has long been one of St. Peter's defining ministries. The parish has delivered loads of supplies and hundreds of backpacks and uniforms to local schools, served many meals to those in need, and filled countless Hope Bags for people experiencing homelessness in and around Redwood City.
These efforts reflect the congregation's understanding of itself as a parish that wants to serve God by the way it lives every day of the week in the real world. Outreach is not a separate program but an expression of the same welcome that shapes Sunday worship.
Many Hands at St. Peter's
Members who want to put their faith into practice on the church grounds have several places to plug in. Coffee Hour Ministry welcomes volunteers to set up, bring food, or clean up after the Sunday gathering; sign-up sheets are available online for those who want to contribute occasionally.
Flower and Candle Devotions gives families a way to dedicate flowers or candles in memory of loved ones, in thanksgiving, or to honor specific events. Lectors read the scriptures aloud during worship and can sign up online through a parish scheduling page.
The Altar Guild prepares the altar and sacraments for Sunday services, working in pairs once or twice a month. No prior experience is required, and training is provided. Several times a year the parish holds a congregational workday, where volunteers with all kinds of skills tackle landscaping, cleaning, painting, organizing, and minor carpentry.
The parish also shares its building with a Tongan congregation, Siasi Konisitutone Tau'ataina 'O Tonga, which has called St. Peter's home for many years.
The Rector and Her Team
The parish is served by a small, committed team. The rector is Rev. Dr. Pamela J. Stevens, Ph.D., called to St. Peter's in May 2024. A native Californian originally from Los Angeles, she holds a B.A. in Economics from UC San Diego, a Master of Divinity from Yale, a Certificate in Anglican Studies from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Before entering ordained ministry she spent decades in property management and renewable energy development and advocacy. She continues to write and publish on multiculturality in Anglican history.
Nancy Oliver serves as Senior Warden, and Paul Berning serves as Junior Warden. Alejandro "Alex" Mejia is the Tech Verger, running the audio, cameras, and the Zoom and Facebook Live streams for the Sunday service.
Visiting St. Peter's
The church is located at 178 Clinton Street, Redwood City, California 94062. Sunday worship is at 10:00 AM, in person and online via Zoom and on Facebook Live. The service bulletin is posted online.
Office hours are Monday through Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and Thursdays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and by appointment. The phone number is 650-367-0777, and the office email is office@stpetersrwc.org. Members can keep in touch with one another through Breeze, an online directory. Giving is available online through the parish's Breeze giving page. The parish belongs to the Diocese of California.