On the wooded residential roads of the North Hills of Pittsburgh, St. Thomas Anglican Church sits at 4106 Saint Thomas Drive in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, with a small cemetery out back, a pavilion in the side yard, and a congregation that has been gathering for worship on this same property for nearly eighty years. The parish belongs to the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Anglican Church in North America, and its identity is shaped by two qualities that do not always appear together: a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, and a firm commitment to the historic liturgy of the Anglican tradition. Sunday by Sunday, the people of St. Thomas pray from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer, sing a mix of traditional and contemporary music, confess their sins together, share the Eucharist at both services, and then linger over coffee, classes, and conversation.
Two Sunday Services, One Communion
Worship on Sunday is the heart of life at St. Thomas. The parish gathers twice, at 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., and both services are celebrations of the Holy Eucharist rooted in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
The 8:00 a.m. service is described as the simple spoken service. Without the addition of music, the congregation engages with the Scripture readings, prays together, and shares in Communion. When the weather allows, this service moves outside to the pavilion, where worshipers are invited to bring a blanket or a lawn chair, or to sit at the picnic tables under the trees.
The 10:15 a.m. service includes both spoken and sung worship, with a mix of traditional hymns and contemporary songs, drawing on the same 2019 Book of Common Prayer liturgy. Each week the service is recorded and made available online by the following Wednesday so that members who are traveling, ill, or otherwise away can still share in the Sunday proclamation of the Word. Children's Church is offered during a portion of this later service for younger worshipers.
Between the two services, at 9:15 a.m., the parish gathers for Discipleship 365, a Sunday-morning adult education hour held in the parish hall. Here the congregation studies Scripture together, works through books of the Bible, and applies the teaching to everyday life. Recent series have included a study of Paul's letter to the Philippians, a course on the first twelve chapters of Genesis, a walk through the Nicene Creed, and a seven-week examination of the Wisdom Pyramid, a framework for thinking about how Christians consume information.
A Service Recorded Each Wednesday
The 10:15 a.m. service is recorded every Sunday and posted online by the following Wednesday. The video, along with a PDF bulletin, is shared through the church's online resources, making the service accessible to shut-ins, college students, snowbirds, and anyone who wants to revisit the sermon or follow along with the prayers at home. Older sermons are also kept in a substantial archive organized by year, and recent teaching series are available on the parish YouTube channel.
How It All Began: The Coin on the Window
St. Thomas traces its origin to a single moment in the spring of 1948. Archdeacon Thomas walked through an abandoned Covenanter church in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, took a coin from his pocket, and scraped clean the years of grime from a century-old window. With that small act the Episcopal Mission had found its new home. The Covenanters stipulated only that the cemetery on the property be maintained and that the land never be sold for commercial purposes. On August 1, 1948, with a congregation of seventeen people, the first service was held.
Just over two months later, on October 16, 1948, with 180 people present, the church was consecrated and the mission took the name it would carry for almost seventy years: St. Thomas Church-in-the-Fields, a name that captured both its rural setting and its identity as a small Anglican outpost in the fields north of Pittsburgh.
The parish grew steadily through the early 1950s. In 1950 a small rectory was purchased with a loan from the Diocese. Within a few years a second, closer rectory was bought, and the old one sold. By 1956 plans were being drawn for a larger building. Ground was broken in 1958, and on June 7, 1959, the first service was held in the present church. The building's unique and special design has been a point of parish pride ever since; the structure both roots the congregation in its history and offers space for worship, formation, and fellowship.
A new rectory was added in 1965, and three years later the parish dedicated the Chapel of the Resurrection, enabling Christian burials within the church itself. The next decade brought struggles, but in 1976, under new and effective leadership, a strong lay ministry was organized and the parish became healthy again. A new rector arrived in 1977, and by 1989 the congregation was celebrating its 30th Anniversary. The 50th Anniversary followed in 1999, and the year 2000 brought renovations to the parish hall and Church School hall.
An Anglican Parish in a Changing Communion
In 2008 the parish voted to remain part of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, a decision that placed St. Thomas within the broader movement that, a few years later, would coalesce into the Anglican Church in North America. In 2017 the parish officially changed its name to St. Thomas Anglican Church, reflecting its clear identity within the ACNA.
Also in 2017, The Rev. Chris Hill was presented by The Rev. Ron Baillie to be ordained a deacon. The following year, after ordination to the priesthood, Jon Baillie was called to become the parish's youth leader, drawing on his counseling background and his own upbringing in the parish. These two additions strengthened both the clergy team and the next-generation ministry of the church.
January 2022 brought a transition: The Rev. Ronald J. Baillie, who had returned to St. Thomas as Rector in January 2011, officially retired. The Rev. Chris Hill became Priest-in-Charge, and then, in July 2022, moved his family to West Virginia. The Rev. Terrence Johnson, assisting clergy at St. Thomas, led services with the help of The Rev. Mark Brown, a supply priest from Butler. On September 4, 2022, The Rev. Captain Greg Miller was called to serve as Interim Rector while the search for the next Rector continued.
In January 2023 the parish's eleventh Rector arrived: The Rev. Jay Slocum, a church-planter and former founding pastor of Jonah's Call Anglican Church in the city of Pittsburgh.
Fr. Jay Slocum, the Eleventh Rector
Fr. Jay grew up in a dairy farming community about seventy-five miles up the Hudson River from the Empire State Building in New York City. A few weeks before his fourteenth birthday, he gave his life to Jesus Christ. He graduated from The King's College in New York in 1991, where he met his wife, Catherine. They were married in 1992 and settled in the Washington, D.C. area, where they joined Truro Episcopal Church. Catherine worked as Director of Communications, and Jay led adult discipleship classes while pursuing a career as an advocate for adults with disabilities.
The Slocums' first daughter, Emma, was born in 1997. In 1999, Truro Church affirmed Jay's call to ordained ministry, and the family moved to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where Jay served as Youth Minister at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church and began studies at Trinity School for Ministry. Their second daughter, Lydia, was born in 2001. After earning his MDiv in 2003, Jay was called to serve as Church Planter and Associate Rector at The Church of the Cross in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he served until 2007.
From 2008 to 2018, Fr. Jay served as the founding pastor and Rector of Jonah's Call Anglican Church in the city of Pittsburgh. During those years he also served as Vice Chair on the board of the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, as Interim Preaching Pastor at Bellefield Presbyterian Church, as founder of The Whistle Bike Shop, and as co-founding City Network Leader of the Made to Flourish Network in Pittsburgh. From 2019 until his call to St. Thomas, he served alongside Catherine as a children's pastor and curriculum developer at Church of the Ascension Anglican Church in Oakland. He continues to support the children's ministry there.
Fr. Jay is the eleventh Rector of St. Thomas, and he brings to the role both a church-planting sensibility and a deep familiarity with Anglican life in western Pennsylvania. He keeps regular office hours at the church on Wednesdays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The Wider Clergy Team
The Rev. Ronald J. Baillie continues to serve as assisting clergy after his retirement. Fr. Ron was raised up for ordination by the congregation at St. Thomas and was ordained there in December 2002 before serving as Rector at Church of the Good Samaritan in McKeesport. In his secular life, Ron was Co-Director of the Carnegie Science Center. He and his wife, Sue, are frequent travelers in retirement but remain part of the parish's life.
The Rev. Chris Hill, formerly Associate Rector at St. Thomas, also continues in assisting clergy status, and The Rev. Terrence Johnson rounds out the team. Mrs. Carol Bergstrom has faithfully served as Parish Administrator and Treasurer since September 2009, managing the daily operations of the office and the church's financial stewardship.
What the Parish Believes
St. Thomas is an Anglican parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Anglican Church in North America. As such, the congregation ascribes to the seven elements that ACNA identifies as characteristic of the Anglican Way: the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God; Baptism and the Supper of the Lord as Sacraments ordained by Christ; the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith; the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds; the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth, and seventh, where agreeable to the Scriptures; the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, together with the Ordinal, as a standard for Anglican doctrine, discipline, and worship; and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571 as expressing the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
The parish's own Mission statement is short and concrete: Serving Christ and community through Bible-based worship, fellowship, and outreach. The parish's Core Values build on that mission: it is a community Rooted in the Gospel, Known by Name, Changed by Grace, and Sent in Love. The vision statement describes a congregation where biblical truth is the source, where every person is welcomed and known by name, where kindness and joy abound under the grace of Christ, and where the love shared inside the church is meant to flow beyond its walls.
Discipleship 365: Learning to Read the Bible Together
The 9:15 a.m. Sunday adult education hour is one of the most distinctive rhythms of parish life. Known as Discipleship 365, it gathers the congregation in the parish hall for an in-depth look at Scripture and the Christian life. Past series have ranged across the Bible and the Christian tradition: a reading of Philippians verse by verse, an introduction to the first twelve chapters of Genesis, a walk through the Nicene Creed, a study of the Anglican Rosary, a series on the Prologue to the Gospel of John, and a multi-week examination of the armor of God. The teaching series are recorded and made available through the parish YouTube channel, and many are accompanied by downloadable handouts.
Friday afternoon Ladies' Bible Study, hosted by Karen DeSanto and meeting at the parish, is open to women of the community, not only members. The Friday afternoon group has been a steady companion to Discipleship 365, offering another weekly touchpoint for those who want to dig into the text of Genesis or whatever book is on the docket.
Children, Youth, and Family Ministry
Children's Church is offered during a portion of the 10:15 a.m. Sunday service, giving younger worshipers an age-appropriate formation experience while still allowing their families to share in the liturgy of the late service. The parish's recent Kickoff Sunday celebrations have highlighted the launch of the children's church ministry as a key piece of the congregation's renewed life together.
Youth Discipleship meets in a similar window during the 10:15 a.m. service, and the parish's youth leader, Jon Baillie, has shaped the program with the help of his counseling background. The parish's photography archive stretches back into the 1980s with photos of youth weekends and retreats, a reminder that forming young disciples has long been a central calling at St. Thomas.
Pastoral Care and Prayer
St. Thomas takes seriously the pastoral work of visiting the sick, bringing Communion to the homebound, and praying with and for the congregation. Communion is typically taken to nursing homes and the homebound on the first Sunday of each month. Home visits and pastoral counsel can be arranged by contacting the church office, and pastoral or spiritual counseling is available on request.
For prayer, the parish maintains a Prayer Warrior Team that receives confidential requests emailed to PrayerRequests@SaintThomasAnglican.org. The Announcements page also carries a running Parish Prayer List and a list of those serving in the military, as well as the weekly Diocesan Cycle of Prayer and the ACNA Cycle of Prayer, which the congregation prays through together.
Fr. Jay, Fr. Ron, Fr. Chris, and Fr. Terry have also written a series of brief teachings called A Word to the Wise, posted through the parish email newsletter and archived online. These irregular postings answer questions about Anglican belief and practice, from the doctrine of the Real Presence in Holy Communion to the question of what apostolic succession means and whether Anglicans stand in it.
Mission and Outreach
The parish prays for and supports a number of mission partners. The Rev. Alison Barfoot, a missionary in Uganda, is remembered each week in the prayers of the people. The parish also partners with a range of local organizations serving vulnerable children and families. A recent joint effort with Shepherd's Heart collected non-perishable food and especially needed socks for the food pantry serving people experiencing homelessness in the wider community.
Each fall the parish supports the Baby Bottle Campaign for the Women's Choice Network, a pregnancy resource center. The Prayer Group at The Arbors Valencia, a local senior living community, meets monthly with Fr. Ron, Fr. Jay, and Amy leading the residents in prayer.
The Pavilion and the Parish Hall
The pavilion and parish hall anchor much of the parish's life outside of Sunday worship. The 8:00 a.m. service moves to the pavilion in good weather, with worshipers bringing blankets, chairs, or just gathering at the picnic tables. The pavilion also hosts the annual Blessing of the Bikes (motorcycles, mountain bikes, bicycles, and tricycles all welcome), and the Fall Halloween Bonfire, complete with hotdogs, marshmallows, and pumpkins for carving. Each October, the annual Blessing of the Animals draws dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and other beloved pets to receive a blessing on the church grounds.
The Chapel of the Resurrection and the Cemetery
St. Thomas's cemetery on the property is a quiet reminder of the church's origins. The Covenanters who first built on this land stipulated that the cemetery always be maintained and that the property never be sold for commercial purposes, a covenant the parish has honored for nearly eighty years. In 1968, the parish added the Chapel of the Resurrection, which makes possible Christian burials within the church itself and gives the parish a fitting place to mark the deaths of those it has loved.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Visitors will find a warm, family-friendly congregation that takes liturgy seriously without being stiff. The 8:00 a.m. spoken service in the pavilion is a gentle way to enter the parish's life; the 10:15 a.m. service adds music and choir and is recorded each week. Both services share in Holy Communion, and the rector and assisting clergy make it easy to follow along. Dress is whatever feels appropriate to the worshipper; the atmosphere is relaxed but the prayers are reverent.
The Discipleship 365 adult education hour at 9:15 a.m. is the natural next step for anyone wanting to learn more about the Christian faith and the Anglican tradition. The parish hall is the place to find coffee, conversation, and the bulletin board where sign-ups for altar flowers, the sanctuary lamp, and the various ministries of the parish are posted.
Children are welcomed at both services and have their own formation during a portion of the 10:15 a.m. service. Visitors needing to reach the parish office during the week can call (724) 443-1963 or email admin@saintthomasanglican.org. Prayer requests can be sent to PrayerRequests@SaintThomasAnglican.org.
The Vestry and Leadership
The vestry, along with the youth leaders and teachers, follows the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh's Safe Church Policy. Each vestry member serves a three-year term and takes responsibility for an area of ministry within the church. The parish's lay leaders, working alongside Fr. Jay and the assisting clergy, carry forward a congregation that has been organized around lay ministry since 1976.
Giving and Records of Stewardship
The parish offers online giving through the My Well Ministry platform, where members can set up recurring contributions, view their giving history, and download annual giving statements each January. Online giving is offered alongside the offering plate at both Sunday services, and gifts can also be mailed to the parish address. Members can sign up to give flowers for the altar or the sanctuary lamp on a chosen week, in keeping with the long Anglican tradition of dedicating the gifts of the church to the glory of God and in memory or thanksgiving of loved ones.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
The story of St. Thomas Anglican Church is in many ways a small slice of the larger story of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Anglicanism in America: a 1948 mission in a borrowed Covenanter meetinghouse, a new building in 1959, steady growth through the 1970s and 1980s, a difficult transition in the 2000s, and a renewed commitment to Anglican identity in 2017. The parish that Archdeacon Thomas planted with seventeen people has grown into a multigenerational congregation of children, parents, and elders, with a pavilion, a chapel, a cemetery, and a tradition of formation that has produced, among other things, an extensive photo archive stretching all the way back to 1948.
From a coin scraping grime off a window in 1948 to a recorded Sunday service in 2026, the parish has kept its central commitment: to gather, week by week, around the Word and the Sacrament, in a building that reminds its people of their rich heritage while encouraging them to move forward into the future God has for them.