The Congregation of St. James'
St. James’ Episcopal Church is an “inclusive multicultural community.” We are prayerfully seeking a rector who can lead our congregation as we extend our witness of the gospel in East Austin, Texas.
Our congregation’s unique history – founded by African-Americans excluded from white Episcopal churches in the 1940’s, “because we were once excluded, we will exclude no one” – informs our commitment to “radical inclusiveness,” which we believe is the heart of the gospel. We are seeking a rector who can share this commitment with us.
We are committed to celebrating the heritage and traditions of African-American spiritual life as reflected in the Lift Every Voice hymnal, Duke Ellington’s Jazz Mass, and the sermons and speeches of the Civil Rights leaders. We are seeking a rector who finds inspiration in that heritage and can celebrate it with us in worship.
We believe that human diversity expresses God’s creativity, grace, and love, and that a diverse community offers unique revelations of the gospel. Our congregation is made up of African-Americans, Anglos and Hispanics; and people from Africa, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other countries. Our congregation also includes lesbian and gay members, same-sex couples with children, interracial couples, and couples who have adopted children of other races. We are seeking a rector who finds inspiration in such diversity, who believes in its centrality to the gospel, and who can encourage and equip us as we strive to make St. James’ a place where all experience the hospitality of Christ.
St. James’ Austin is a spiritually, socially and politically progressive congregation in the conservative Diocese of Texas. As a result, our congregation has historically been an important voice in the Diocese for social justice and full inclusion. We are seeking a rector who can encourage and invite the Bishop and other Diocesan leaders forward whenever our prayerfully-considered responses to the gospel challenge their traditional practices and ways of thinking.
We see many opportunities to learn from and serve those who live in our new neighborhood. We are seeking a rector who finds inspiration in the needs of our community, who will commit to being part of that community with us, and who can provide spiritual and practical leadership for our outreach efforts.
Three years ago, a small congregation of Spanish-speaking Episcopalians came to St. James’ asking to join our congregation. We have demonstrated a commitment to these Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters by hiring a Spanish-speaking priest who presides over a Spanish-language service each week. We see special promise in this ministry and are seeking a rector who will work with us to broaden our invitation to Spanish-speaking neighbors.
We are committed to the mission and work of St. James’ Episcopal School – providing excellent education in the Episcopal school tradition to children of low-to-moderate income families. Since our rector will serve as the head of the school board, we are seeking a leader who finds inspiration in the school’s mission and can wholeheartedly commit to the school’s survival and growth.
We are committed to serving young families with excellent Christian formation offerings. Moreover, we believe that if we meet this need, new families from the surrounding neighborhood will choose to join our church. We are seeking a rector who is enthusiastic about Christian formation and can support these outreach efforts.
Some of our parishioners are relatively poor. Others are quite wealthy. Many have advanced degrees, and others didn’t finish high school. Most all are spiritual seekers who want to learn more about living the gospel, loving their neighbors, being good stewards and making a difference. We are seeking a rector who is inclined to listen first – and then speak to the spectrum of experiences in our congregation.
We worship joyfully at St. James’. We introduce visitors in the service and greet them heartily. We take time to pass the peace extensively and with gusto. We are seeking a rector who recognizes our need for and will encourage us in our joyful worship.
We have created our own festival days – St. James’ Day, Jazz at St. James’, Good Friday Project – to reflect the spirit of our African-American heritage and our love of music. We are seeking a rector who can celebrate with us and will respect and further the worship traditions we’ve built.
Our parish is home to a number of priests, each of whom has special gifts and responsibilities in our congregation. We are seeking a rector secure in his or her own personal authority who can recognize and get excited about opportunities for collaboration, learning, and leveraging others’ talents in the work of leading the parish.
Our congregation is spiritually committed to the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest. We host seminary interns, contribute financially to the work of the Seminary, and offer guidance to those discerning a call to the priesthood. We are seeking a rector who can share our enthusiasm for the mission and work of the Seminary and who is eager and able to mentor seminarians.
To keep our growing membership connected to the work of the church and concerns of the community – and for the sake of broader outreach – we expect church staff and ministry leaders to use e-mail, web pages and other electronic media. We are seeking a rector who is technologically savvy and comfortable using the internet and the web.
In faith, and with a measure of financial planning, we have built a new building. We need to retire a large debt. In addition, as the church has grown, we have added staff and other resources to support our ministries. Our parishioners are generous and not shy about money and stewardship. We are seeking a rector who is fiscally savvy, who understands financial projections and budgets, who can teach about stewardship from the perspective of the gospel, and who will not shrink from discussing the church’s financial situation and challenging the congregation to support its work financially.
St. James’ Austin is an enthusiastic, close-knit family, energized by the opportunities and challenges facing us. We believe that God will call for us a rector who recognizes that building new ministries with St. James’ in our new home is a chance to live close to the heart of the gospel and to grow powerfully in God’s Spirit. We are eager to form that partnership for the next stage of our journey.